Nairobi News

Mombasa Road is the most dangerous road for pedestrians, the latest statistics from the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) show, while many pedestrians were also hit and killed on Thika Superhighway, Waiyaki Way and the Eastern Bypass.

And although the figures released earlier this week show deaths on the roads have reduced significantly, pedestrian accidents accounted for most of the fatalities.

They trumped deaths among passengers, motorcyclists, drivers and pedal cyclists.

Pedestrians killed in Nairobi in 2016 were 299, down from 497 in 2015, with 69 pedestrians — a number enough to fill five 14-seater matatus to capacity — killed on Mombasa Road. The number was, however, lower by 24 last year.

Accidents on Thika Superhighway were responsible for the deaths of 44 pedestrians last year, from 61 in 2015, while Waiyaki Way and Eastern Bypass had 40 and 21 against 49 and 40 in 2015, respectively.

Sixty passengers died after the vehicles they were in were involved in accidents in 2015, a number that increased by four in 2016.

There was also a slight increase in accidents involving motorcycles with fatalities standing at 61 against 58 in 2015.

Drivers and pedal cyclists accounted for 47 and six deaths recorded in 2015 compared to 28 and 9 in 2016, respectively.

Between January and February last year, NTSA recorded 201 pedestrian deaths nationwide but the number reduced by 13 per cent to 173 over the same period this year.

So far, the authority has recorded 103 passenger deaths and 41 deaths of pillion passengers. There have been 419 deaths from all the classes of accidents so far this year while 494 were recorded in 2016.

On the reduction in accidents from 668 in 2015 to 461 in 2016, the NTSA Communications Director Dido Guyatu said: “The reduction in fatalities was attributed to evidence-led enforcement. NTSA segmented the major highways based on mapping of crash-prone areas.”