NTSA says 1,600 people killed in road accidents this year

1,679 people have died in road accidents since the beginning of this year with the majority of fatalities being pedestrians at 571 followed by motorcycle operators at 449.

According to data from the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), this is a drop by four percent compared to the same period last year where 1,756 people had died in road accidents across the country.

The authority has now partnered with 10 counties across major roads on a road safety campaign targeting to reduce the number of fatal accidents in the country.

NTSA Director General George Njau says they have increased signage along the major roads and continued improvement of the roads by fixing potholes.

He noted that statistics indicated that all motorists were affected by the fatal accidents.

Speaking at a meeting with the counties in Naivasha, Njau said they were rolling out an intelligence road management and safety system that will monitor and track PSVs in the next couple of days.

In this programme, NTSA will help PSV operators come up with transport committees and address the rising cases of accidents involving boda boda operators.

Dr Duncan Kibogong, the deputy director in charge of road safety, cited pedestrians and motorcycle operators as the most affected by the fatal accidents.

He said that there was a decrease of four percent in the number of fatalities this year compared to the same period last year.

Dr. Kibobong said a total of 8,098 people had been involved in accidents this year compared to 7,848 over the same span of time last year.

Nathaniel Ng’ang’a from Machakos County lauded the road safety programme by NTSA noting that it would go a long way in taming the rising cases of accidents.