NTSA to embark on nationwide road safety campaigns
BY NAIROBI NEWS REPORTER
@nairobi_news
Modern Coast bus company has donated 3000 reflective jackets to National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to be used in road safety sensitization initiatives across the country.
The jackets were handed over to the transport regulating body at their Upperhill offices in Nairobi. The NTSA Director General Mr Francis Meja received the jackets remarking that the donation was timely and will help in the sensitization programme. “We ask all Kenyans and drivers to take road safety as their own responsibility. We shall embark on a countrywide sensitization drive that will help in educating Kenyans on road safety,” he said.
Modern Coast operations manager Mr Hashim Sumra said that the company has decided to partner with NTSA in the safety education in order to help reduce road carnage. “We want to help make our roads safer for every one and we hope this campaign will yield fruits. As a company we are committed to ensuring our fleet and drivers follow all traffic rules and regulations and this what we would wish to see all other transporters emulate,” he said.
Accidents on the rise
According to NTSA, he number of people killed and injured in road crashes in Kenya shot up by 45 per cent between January and March 2016 compared with the same period in 2015.
In statistics posted on the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) website, the total number of victims in the first three months of 2016 increased by 1,233 – from 2,699 in 2015 to 3,932 in 2016.The number of those killed across the country over that period was 827 in 2016 compared with 725 in 2015, representing a 14 per cent increase.
The total number of crash victims who sustained serious and slight injuries in 2016 was 2,105 compared with 1,974 in 2015.The data by the road safety authority revealed that pedestrians accounted for the highest number of those killed, with 326 deaths, followed by passengers at 176 while motorcyclists were third at 139. The NTSA’s 2015 road safety status report released in January 2016 stated that 3,057 people were killed in road crashes in 2015, compared with 2,907 in 2014.