Shocking deaths on the roads

By Cyrus Ombati
December 10, 2007, 12:00 am

More than 250 people have died in road accidents since September, in a new wave of carnage that has defied reason.

So alarming has the situation become that the matter came up at a church service President Kibaki attended in Nairobi.

On Sunday, Pastor Mark Kariuki raised a red flag, when he led a congregation, that included the Head of State, in special prayers for the nation ahead of the December 27 General Election.

Some 15 people narrowly escaped death when this matatu was involved in an accident at Omote Obichage, along the Kisii-Kericho highway. Picture: Robert Nyasato.

"Something has happened suddenly and people are dying on our roads at an alarming rate. We wonder whether it’s associated with witchcraft. We ask God to protect us," Kariuki said.

The President, however, did not directly respond to the issue when he rose to address the worshippers. Instead, Kibaki urged Kenyans to have faith in God.

Public service vehicles (PSVs) have claimed most lives. In total disregard of the road safety policy, pedestrians have been run over and passengers killed on highways.

Of the accidents, the worst was the one that killed 32 people in Kisii in September. Twenty were killed in Makindu, Makueni, last month involving a bus and a lorry and 17 in Bomet when a bus plunged into a river.

Eight died in Kanga, Migori, between a bus and a lorry.

Sixteen were last week killed in Kitale and more than 30 at the weekend in Kombewa, Ruiru, Kakamega and Kabarnet.

Road safety interventions have not made any discernible impact in reducing the numbers, rates and consequences of road crashes.

Impediments to road traffic injury prevention and control according to police include: Ineffective coordination, inadequate resources and qualified personnel, and limited capacity to implement and monitor interventions.

This is because of what the law says on the collection and use of data on such accidents. Traffic Police collect accident data for legal prosecution and insurance claims.

The accident data P41 form is filled at police stations and forwarded to the Roads Department, Ministry of Roads and Public Works, for further processing and analysis.

The Roads Department analyses the information to determine the number and type of injuries, cause of accident and classification of ‘black’ spots. And based on the road information, the Roads Department prepares work plans for enhancement of safety at identified black spots and other dangerous locations on public roads.

Various arms of Government (Police, Transport, Roads and Public Works and Health ministries and the Judiciary) and the insurance business collect data on road safety, but lack capacity to analyse it.

On Sunday, the police sounded the alarm and promised to take action to end the carnage. Police Spokesman, Mr Eric Kiraithe, promised stern action would be taken to reduce accidents that seem to be getting out of hand.

He said traffic officers are under instructions to act all the time in efforts to reduce accidents, especially in this festive season.

"We are concerned with the number of accidents occurring in the country. We have plans and measures to address the menace in this period," said Kiraithe.

The traffic volume information is a vital parameter used to determine the level of service required for a road to end carnage.

And through police reports, the Roads Department regularly carries traffic counts at specific locations. This is carried out annually in July and August to determine the actual traffic volumes.

Crippling accidents

An estimated 1.17 million deaths occur each year worldwide due to road accidents. The majority of the deaths, about 70 per cent, are in developing countries.

More than ten million people are crippled or injured each year, according to a UN report.

In Kenya, road accidents cost the economy Sh4 billion a year, sucking two per cent out of the gross domestic product.

Findings show that of the more than 3,000 people killed in vehicle incidents a year, 75 per cent are economically active adults.

The World Health Organisation disclosed shocking rates of death, injury and disability among young people caused by road traffic crashes worldwide.

The report also found out that people in African and eastern Mediterranean countries face the highest risk.

With road traffic victims taking more than half of hospital beds in surgical wards, coupled with lack of well-structured and sustainable safety programmes, deaths due to road accidents are expected to increase and to overtake those due to HIV and Aids by 2010.

A report in the Road Safety Plan says co-ordination and a centralised source of road safety statistics for action is lacking.

Other data from the Judiciary, health institutions, insurance, transport fleet operators and researchers is not centralised and readily available for guiding intervention efforts, says the report.

It calls for the need to improve the efficiency of the road crash data system in future.

This should be based on the P41 accident form from the police and Road Safety Unit.

Further, the report recommends that the installation of an efficient information communication technology system for road crash data requires effective capacity building with personnel training and adequate equipment.

The report says research institutes that can analyse data have limited access to it so that there is limited use of information collected.

The various institutions doing road safety research are not coordinated and there is no framework for identifying research needs, undertaking research, synthesis and dissemination, adds the draft report.

This has resulted in commissioned research by the central Government or local authorities, having prominence as opposed to non-commissioned research, which remain in libraries of various institutions.

It recommends making information on road safety statistics and research more readily available to policy makers and road safety players. The report calls for identification of research priorities and needs as well as capacity.

It seeks to establish a coordinating organisation with the responsibility of identifying and co-ordinating road safety research as well as dissemination and storage.

The report proposes: "Improve links with international organisations that provide and share research on road safety."