Uhuru orders for enforcement of traffic rules to prevent road accidents
President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed traffic police to ensure full and impartial enforcement of traffic rules and regulations, for the prevention of unnecessary loss of life as a result of road accidents.
Speaking at the Kenya School of Government in Lower Kabete, Nairobi on Friday when he officially closed a two-day workshop of the Inspector General’s Conference, the president said a majority of the road accidents are preventable.
“In the recent past, we have lost far too many lives on our roads. We need to be perfectly clear here, these deaths are avoidable. The Kenyans who have left us, fathers and mothers, son and daughters, did not have to die,” President Kenyatta said.
The President further directed police officers to take charge of traffic regulation and law enforcement on the roads.
ROAD CARNAGE
The reforms include new National Police Service Standing Orders, career progression guidelines and basic training curriculum which President Kenyatta launched.
Last year alone and more so the month of December, more than 3,000 people lost their lives on the road according to National Transport and Safety Authority.
Kenya is ranked among countries with the worst road safety records globally based on a 2015 World Health Organisation (WHO) report titled the Global Status on Road Safety.
WHO differs with the country’s official statistics and places the annual death toll at an average of 12,000, with many accidents blamed on faulty vehicles and minimal or total lack of enforcement by authorities coupled with bribery.
The report shows that no African country, except South Africa, meets any of the UN’s seven main vehicle safety standards.