Road crashes claim 710 lives in January and February

There have been more traffic fatalities in the last two months compared to a similar period last year, the government said on Tuesday.

Government Spokesman Cyrus Oguna said the State is concerned over increasing road crashes in the country. He said 710 people perished between January and February this year.

Last year, 562 people perished in road crashes during the same period.

“Comparing the numbers of road accident cases between January and February 2020 and the same period in 2021, there is an increase of 148 cases,” Col Oguna said.

Road rage, overlapping, reckless driving, dangerous overtaking, drunk driving, drunk walking, drunk riding, failure to use helmets were attributed to the increase in crashes.

“These rising cases are ironical since due to the curfew and the movement restrictions, we are experiencing in the country, we expect the numbers to have reduced,” he said.

“If we can fix our behaviour and attitudes, the number of crashes on our roads would significantly come down,” he said.

These deaths on the road come 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.

Among the dead were 230 pedestrians, 197 motorcyclists, 123 passengers, 79 drivers, 58 pillion passengers and 23 pedal cyclists.

Col Oguna said it is baffling that Africa has the least number of vehicles compared to other continents but the highest number of fatal crashes.

“If we can fix our behaviour and attitudes, the number of crashes on our roads would significantly come down,” he said.

The government said that data of crashes on Kenyan roads is disturbing, as it shows an upward trend in the number of crashes between 2019 and 2021.

The figures indicate that the number of fatalities increased by 11 percent between 2019 and 2020. They also show that motorcyclists are the category of road users with the highest number of fatalities.

Motorcycle death is also the leading road crashes were at 1,575 in 2020 (40 percent of total fatalities), followed closely by pedestrians at 1,383 over the same period (35 percent).

Vulnerable road user groups which comprise pedestrians, motorcyclists and their passengers account for 74 percent of fatalities.

Col Oguna added that Highway Code breakers must face the law and be made to pay stiffer penalties while at the same time calling out the Judiciary for leniency on traffic offenders terming the penalties as not good enough to curb the carnage.

“Traffic police and the judiciary have been instructed to be more firm, strict and decisive with road safety violations and the Judiciary is urged to be uncompromising with Highway Code breakers by making them face the law and pay stiffer penalties,” Col Oguna said.