Road Safety in Kenya Today

  

Date Posted: 1/17/2018 5:17:02 AM

Posted By: ROZA  Membership Level: Silver  Total Points: 961

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Road safety measures are those strategies that we can use in order to prevent road accidents. These accidents have been the cause of many avoidable deaths and injuries. In Kenya road accidents have become a major problem that if something is not done about it; we are going to lose a lot, including very productive members of our community. Accidents have brought much loss in many areas including; loss in the family where may be a bread winner dies in an accident or even a mother leaving her young children, in companies where very productive people in a company perish in accidents, and even in government where very popular politicians suddenly die in accidents in their prime years of service to our beloved country and to the world at large, because these people could have made a difference globally.
Road accidents occur as a result of many problems. They include the following:
i. CORRUPTION
Corruption has been a major cause of accidents in Kenya. There are several people who are guilty of this. They include traffic police, road users, and even driving schools and so on.
ii. DRUKENNESS
Drunkenness is another major cause of accidents in Kenya that needs to be taken care of.
iii. LONG WORKING HOURS
There is a trend in Kenya that drivers are getting used to and that is working for very long hours without rest
iv. UNQUALIFIED PERSONEL
This includes unqualified drivers and mechanics as well.
v. STRESS
As far as stress is concerned, if one keenly observes how the matatu industry works, one would find that these people are usually under a lot of stress. They get pressure from all sides. They get pressure from matatu owners who are their employers, they get pressure from the government which has put regulations for them to follow, they get pressure from the police who sometimes mistreat them for no reason at

all, and they also get pressure from home because they have a family to look after. On the other hand the public view them as their enemy.
But all is not lost, if we can make a point of taking strict measures and try our level best to curb this problem, it is possible to find an end to this problem. The following are some of the recommendations that can be taken into consideration;
a. Drivers need to have customer service lessons so they can be able to know how to treat their passengers, then their working environment can be more friendly and their stress levels will go down
b. Driving schools should have a follow up plan for their students even after they leave their schools so that they can monitor their own performance and make changes where they feel it is needed
c. Government should find a way to regulate driving schools. This is because in Kenya today, driving schools function as independent entities, and so they are not answerable to any one if anything goes wrong as far as their services are concerned and that should change.
d. The government should find a way to deal with corruption in the transport industry and also every one of us should take personal responsibility to do away with corruption. The government should also make sure that our police men do not own matatus because that would be promoting corruption
e. Every Sacco should have a platform such as a face book page, a place where matatu community can communicate with the public and everybody can air their grievances and they can be solved in a civilized manner, then we will have dealt with the indiscipline that we see in the matatu industry
f. The matatu community need to have counseling every now and then, so as to deal with the many pressures that they get, and when the pressure is down, they will work more soberly
g. Dealing with drunkenness is everybody’s responsibility. If you do not want to die, how can you drink and drive, knowing very well that your whole family on board?
h. Every driver should make a habit of checking the status of their vehicle before going on a journey whether long or short, just to make sure all is well.
i. Regular vehicle servicing should be ensured so as to know where repairs are needed
j. Last but not least, let us make use of safety belts. The car manufacturer put them there for a reason and that reason is our own safe.
CONCLUSION
We should all stop the blame game that we are very fond of and take the responsibility of ensuring safety on our roads and exercise respect for one another as we use our roads. This is because enhancing road safety is everybody’s responsibility.

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