NTSA: Private cars, trucks cause most deaths on Kenyan roads
Trucks and other vehicles parked on the Eldoret-Nakuru highway at Mau Summit in June last year. .Commercial and private vehicles are causing more road accident deaths than Public Service Vehicles (PSVs), a new report debunking the myth that Matatus are responsible for most of the deaths shows.
What you need to know:
- Nairobi’s 13-kilometer Outering road stretch, which connects Mombasa Road to Thika Superhighway, is perhaps Kenya’s most dangerous road and claimed the lives of at least 47 Kenyans in the year to June 2023.
- “Outering road had the highest number of pedestrian deaths in Nairobi County with 32 fatalities. Outering has been the leading since its inception in 2015,” NTSA notes.
.Commercial and private vehicles are causing more road accident deaths than Public Service Vehicles (PSVs), a new report debunking the myth that Matatus are responsible for most of the deaths shows.
The report by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) shows that while motorcycles caused most deaths resulting from road accidents in the year to June 2023 (1,157 deaths), commercial vehicles followed with 1,086 deaths, and private vehicles caused 1,078 deaths.
The deaths caused by commercial and private vehicles are about double the 552 fatalities resulting from accidents associated with PSVs during the year, the NTSA data on contribution to fatalities by vehicle type shows.
“Motorcycles and commercial vehicles contributed to most fatalities in 2022/2023 each recording 1,157 and 1,086 deaths respectively,” the NTSA states.
Cumulatively, deaths by commercial and private vehicles constituted 46.7 percent of the 4,634 deaths on Kenyan roads, while those by PSVs were 12 percent.
The trend was similar to the year to June 2022, where private vehicles still caused 1,183 deaths and commercial vehicles killed 1,044 Kenyans, while deaths from PSV accidents were 594.
Government vehicles also killed 57 Kenyans during the year, ambulances killed two, and hand carts and trains one each.
The details on the vehicles causing most deaths on Kenyan roads are emerging even as some few roads maintain the record of most dangerous for road users, taking lives by the hundreds every year.
Nairobi’s 13-kilometer Outering road stretch, which connects Mombasa Road to Thika Superhighway, is perhaps Kenya’s most dangerous road and claimed the lives of at least 47 Kenyans in the year to June 2023.
“Outering road had the highest number of pedestrian deaths in Nairobi County with 32 fatalities. Outering has been the leading since its inception in 2015,” NTSA notes.
A road that has previously been classified as among the most dangerous roads in the world, Outering Road not only claimed the lives of 32 pedestrians but also caused nine motorbike deaths and six passenger deaths during the year.
In Nairobi and its environs, Thika Superhighway (a 45km road), claimed a total of 103 lives in the year to June 2023, out of whom close to two-thirds were pedestrians, and 30 motorbike (riders and pillion passengers) deaths.
“Nairobi County had the highest number of pedestrian deaths (251). This is 58 percent of the total fatalities that have occurred within the county. Kiambu was the second leading with 205 fatalities,” NTSA notes.
Majority of the pedestrian deaths are attributed to crossing at undesignated places, lack of speed-calming measures, and distracted driving and walking.
For the long-haul roads, the Nairobi-Nakuru road, which stretches about 160 km, continues to claim most lives having caused 167 deaths during the year, while the 60KM Nairobi-Machakos road killed 61 Kenyans.
NTSA notes that the majority of Kenyans dying from road accidents continue to perish during the weekends, when many motorists are rushing to and from up country thus ending up speeding, and when traffic laws enforcement has been low.
“Sunday had the highest fatalities in the financial year 2022-2023 with 820 deaths. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday contributed the highest number of fatalities with a combined figure of 51.1 percent,” it notes.
