More lives lost on roads this year despite Covid restrictions
A matatu which plunged into Sondu River along the Ahero-Kisii road on December 8, 2020, killing two people, is towed away.
More people have been killed in accidents on Kenyan road this year than last year, statistics from the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) have revealed.
This is despite reduced travel as a result of the partial lockdown imposed earlier this year due to Covid-19, the ongoing curfew and more people working from home.
Conventional wisdom suggests that lockdowns would bring down the number of road deaths and injuries. But a closer look at the traffic data as at December 3, 2020 reveals that fatalities have increased compared to the same time in 2019.
Contributing factors could be higher speeds due to lower traffic volumes, lack of enforcement of traffic rules and a larger proportion of pedestrians and motorcyclists who are more vulnerable than other road users.
General statistics documented by the police and the NTSA show that road fatalities between January and December this year stood at 3,508, compared to 3,241 during the same period last year, an increase of 8.2 per cent.
Reckless driving, dangerous overtaking, drink driving, drink walking, drink riding and failure to use helmets, among other issues, have been blamed for the increase in crashes.
Drink driving
In October, NTSA and the Inspector-General of Police expressed concern over a spike in accidents, coming soon after President Uhuru Kenyatta relaxed Covid-19 restrictions in the country. This was after a report revealed that 60 people were killed due to drink driving between October 2 and 4.
At the time, the government resorted to re-introducing breathalyser tests in major towns in a bid to control road carnage. That is yet to be effected.
Covid-19 and road safety have a common unfortunate characteristic — they hit the most vulnerable people the hardest
Road traffic accidents represented a global pandemic long before the current health crisis, with the virus killing 1,531 people in Kenya as of Monday, December 7.
Between January and April this year, the country recorded a slight reduction in the number of accidents compared to the same period last year.
NTSA reported that 1,022 people died in 2020 as compared to 1,058 in the same period last year.
The number rose to 1,667 between May and September, which was a 1.3 per cent increase, compared to the same period last year, which had recorded 1,597 fatalities.
NTSA statistics show that road fatalities between January and September this year stood at 2,689, compared to 2,655 during the same period last year.
Personal responsibility
In November, President Kenyatta made several key changes to Kenya’s measures against the Covid-19 pandemic, underscoring the need for personal responsibility if the country was to win the fight.
The President extended the nationwide curfew by 60 days but changed the timings to between 10pm and 4am.
He also lifted the ban on the sale of alcohol by bars and restaurants, but noted that the establishments must be closed by 9pm.
Despite a huge drop in traffic volume, accidents Kenyan roads did not go down during the lockdown.
According to the World Bank, road traffic accidents and the associated injuries are a major cause of deaths and disability around the world.
Of the 23 million to 34 million people injured in road accidents annually, an average of 1.24 million die.
This makes road accidents the ninth-ranked cause of death in the world and the ranking is projected to rise.
A majority of the deaths occur in developing countries.
