Kenya must take new measures to enhance road safety

The Ministry of Transport in 2010 came up with a number of measures to address road safety in Kenya.

Going by the over 300 road accident fatalities reported in December 2010, and an estimated 3,000 over the year, there is an element of national urgency on the subject of road safety.

Road accidents have serious humanitarian and economic impacts on the country and its citizens.

Kenya has witnessed periodic start-stop efforts on road safety.

The presidential speech on June 1 last year triggered a flurry of activities by traffic officers on our roads, which appeared to have stopped after a while, and will probably restart when we next witness major incidents.

This is an indication of absence of sustainable and well integrated road safety management systems in Kenya.

What the public really want to see is a holistic and sustainable solution for road accidents similar to Mr John Mututho’s solutions on alcohol abuse.

The Member of Parliament’s solutions involved a totally new law which is not easy to routinely challenge in courts of law and which also defines clear enforcement responsibilities.

The Minister for Road Transport should urgently consider revising the Road Traffic Act to comprehensively address all the new developments on our roads, and to also redefine enforcement and monitoring accountabilities.

According to statistics most of the road accidents in Kenya are attributable to PSV vehicles, pedestrians and the “boda boda” motor bikes.

The influx of the motor bikes is a new development not fully addressed in traffic rules.

There are three distinct elements to road safety: the vehicle, the driver, and the road.

Whereas Kenya seems to over-emphasise the vehicle, the quality of the driver and the condition of the roads are equally critical.

At a routine road block on Kenyan roads a traffic officer will be checking the vehicle condition, while next to him there are glaring and dangerous potholes, and as soon as the vehicle is released from the road block it zooms to above legal speed limits.

This is ineffective enforcement and adds minimum value to road safety.

The latest regulatory effort by the Ministry of Transport increases the size of PSV vehicles from 14 seating to a minimum of 24 seating passengers.

This has the positive impact of reducing congestion on our roads and especially in the cities.

The grouping of operators into saccos and companies will also create platforms for organised peer self regulation.

It is assumed that, at the minimum, the design of the new approved 24 seater PSV will incorporate tamper-proof speed governors.

Limited choices

Unless the other two elements (the driver and the road) are sufficiently addressed this new regulation will only increase the exposure of potential passenger injuries and fatalities per PSV accident from 14 to 24.

In isolation the new regulation may not achieve much on PSV safety.

Let us now focus on the driver. Driving is a skill attained during training, confirmed during testing, but mostly cultivated through disciplined actual experience on the road.

It all starts with the quality of training and effectiveness of testing, and this is probably where our systems may be ineffective.

My special interest is with the PSV driver who is entrusted with captive passengers with limited travel choices.

About 40 per cent of road accident deaths and injuries in Kenya involve PSV vehicles according to a WHO report attributable to Kenya Traffic Police 2007 report.

Due to high accident exposure, PSV drivers should be a specialised category of drivers who require certification after meeting minimum set criteria.

The PSV sector driver should receive specialised training and testing, be of a certain minimum age, have a specified minimum years of driving experience, be free of past serious traffic offences, be medically fit.

He must also be confirmed free of alcohol and drug addiction.

The approach to certifying a PSV driver should be similar to approach taken to certify aircraft pilots, for both are entrusted with passengers.

This certification should be renewed within a set period, and it can be withdrawn on serious traffic violations.

This way we can reassure the PSV passengers that we have selected the safest drivers possible.

We need to regulate the number of hours of continuous driving especially for night long haul driving, to ensure that fatigue and sleep do not jeopardise passenger safety.

Similarly the enforcement of the no-alcohol and drugs including “miraas” for PSVs drivers should be part of the enforcement routines.

On road design and condition. This is the responsibility of the Ministry of Roads which seems to be spared of blame when we discuss accountability for road safety and resultant accidents.

The way our roads are designed and maintained will determine the level of inherent road safety hazards.

How many accidents have occurred at unmarked road bumps and when drivers are avoiding potholes?

How many pedestrian accidents have occurred on the newly reconstructed Mombasa Road at Bellevue and Firestone where there are no provisions for pedestrian crossing?

How do we hold the Minister for Roads to account for deaths and injuries caused by errors or omission and commission on the design and maintenance of our roads?

Enforcement

According to a WHO report in 2009, Rwanda scores among the highest in road safety enforcement in the world.

The country scored nine out of possible 10 points in traffic regulatory enforcement effectiveness, while Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda scored 4, 3, and 2 respectively.

There is a strong justification for our road safety enforcement authorities to visit Rwanda and get first hand hints on how to turn around road safety performance here in Kenya.

Some of us have been tutored on the principle that all accidents are preventable if effective safety management systems are in place and are applied and enforced.

Mr Wachira is the director, Petroleum Focus Consultants. [email protected]