An Analysis of the Effects of Environmental and Governance Factors on Road Safety: a Case Study of Road Accident Black Spots in the City of Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

The study investigated the effects of environmental and governance factors on road safety in Nairobi. It was motivated by the rapidly deteriorating road safety trends observed globally and locally. The overall objective of this study was to analyse the effects of environmental and governance factors that contribute to RTAs. The specific objectives of the study were; to (a) assess the effect of environmental factors on road traffic accidents (RTAs) in Nairobi.( b) analyse how lack of road signs and road crossing points contribute to motor and pedestrian road traffic accidents (RTAs) on the roads.(c) examine the effects of vehicle speeding and speed controls on occurrences of road traffic accidents (RTAs). (d) evaluate the impact of the presence or absence of traffic police and the enforcement on traffic rules and regulations on the increase or decrease of road traffic accidents (RTAS). There were four (4) hypotheses formulated for this study and their validity was tested using the obtained data; these were (a) There is no significant difference between wetness of the road and the number of RTAs, (b) there is no significant difference between pedestrian RTAs and lack of pedestrian road crossings (c)There is no significant difference between driver behaviour and RTAs, (d) there is no significant difference between law enforcement and RTAs.Data was collected using questionnaires administered to drivers and traffic police officers.More data was also obtained through field observations of road side activities, road conditions, pedestrian road crossings and road side traffic signs along RTAs black spot areas. Data was also abstracted from traffic police records . These data were tabulated and analyzed using multiple regression analysis and chi-square test in testing the hypotheses. The main findings of the study road accident black spots were that; there was (1) insignificant influence of weather conditions on RTAs and road accident black spots had poorly marked road sections/; (2) insufficient pedestrian road crossing facilities and fences to channel pedestrians to safe crossing points, pedestrians frequently do not use designated pedestrian traffic ways and safe road crossing points, (3) a high number of RTAs occurred when the traffic police officers were not present on the roads, no speed limits signs or speed limit traffic bumps, and the presence oftraffic police officers on the road has no effect on drivers and reduction of RTAs, (4) traffic police officers are not effective in reducing RTAs, lax enforcement of traffic rules/regulations leads to increase in RTAs, rampant indiscipline and non-compliance with traffic rules by drivers contributing to high RTAs. Based on research fidings, several key recommendations were made. They are:(a) enforcing more strict road traffic laws (b)road safety should be recognized as a national disaster and be included in the national development plans with adequate funding.(c) that appropriate countermeasures on speed limits be enforced to control vehicle speeding(d), traffic law enforcement be strengthened with a clear legal mandate of enforcing road traffic laws.