Road safety in Kenya

Abstract

Kenya has a high rate of fatalities and injuries in relation to personal and public vehicle ownership in the world with an average of 8 deaths from 35 crashes that occur daily. Nearly 3000 people are killed on the Kenyan roads annually. This has serious implication for the nation both socially and economically. The issue of road safety requires serious investigation and research in order to be managed. Utilizing a sample of 160 drivers of public service vehicles, the study investigated how knowledge, attitudes and practices / behavior of PSV drivers contribute to road crashes. A combination of purposive and random samplings was utilized to select the study sample. Stage selection was done purposely while route and respondents were randomly selected from the list kept by stage clerks. Primary data were collected by use of self-administered open and closed ended questionnaires. Data were analyzed utilizing descriptive statistics organized and presented using tables, charts and opinion scales. The chi-square test was used to test for association between variables. The study observed that levels of awareness/knowledge about road safety were almost universal but ironically this did not influence the number of accidents ..that occurred. Also bad driving habits or violation of traffic rules was not found to affect the number of accidents occurring. The PSV drivers were found to have negative attitudes towards law enforcement officers leading to many unnecessary road crashes. They were also found to have negative attitudes towards their work and to be dissatisfied with their work as drivers. The study also found out that driving schools were not being monitored or evaluated and that there did not exist a standard curriculum for all driving schools in Kenya. Bases on the findings of the study, it was concluded that, drivers need to understand the need to observe all road safety rules if road accidents are to be reduced. There is also need for stakeholders to organize seminars where PSV drivers and traffic police can meet and talk about their problems. In addition, the relationship between traffic law and road safety needs to be given greater emphasis' during training of drivers. Monitoring and evaluating driving schools in order to find out if the curriculum is sufficient for the trainees' needs is also necessary. The use of electronic devices such as speed guns to monitor and apprehend traffic violators should be introduced and the fines levied for traffic violators should be increased. Finally it was recommended that a coherent public transport policy to regulate, organize and control the sector is required as a matter of urgency. The National Road Safety Council of Kenya should set national policy on road safety and develop relevant implementation strategies.