The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has revealed that 2,150 lives have been lost in road accidents since the beginning of the year.
Speaking on Monday, June 15, NTSA Director General Nashon Kondiwa said the majority of people killed in road crashes are pedestrians.
“We have 2,150 people who died on the roads this year, which is an increase of around 11 percent from last year, and of these, around 836 are pedestrians.
“They form the majority, followed by motorcyclists; we have 188 drivers who have died on the road,” said Kondiwa.
The NTSA Director General warned that the country risks losing up to 10 percent of the GDP by 2030 if no intervention is done to curb the road accidents.
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“We have done some projections and realized that if we don’t have a serious intervention on these numbers, we are likely to lose up to 10% of the GDP by 2030,” Kondiwa stated.
At the same time, Kondiwa announced that drivers will be re required to go refresher training from July.
The NTSA boss explained that the move is aimed at enhancing road safety by ensuring drivers who are regularly on the road get additional driving skills.
“ From July, we want to train drivers afresh. In every profession, there is what we call professional development; people go for refresher courses.
“We want to really implement this for drivers who are continuously on the road. So that people don't just go to driving school and think they will remember everything forever,” Kondiwa stated.
This comes days after five people were killed following a tragic road accident along the Bungoma-Webuye highway.
The accident occurred on Wednesday, June 10, at around 12:30 am near the Bukembe bridge.
The accident involved an Eldoret Victory Shuttle matatu, which was travelling from Webuye towards Bungoma, and a trailer moving in the opposite direction.
The deceased passengers were three men and two women whose bodies were moved to the Bungoma County Referral Hospital mortuary, awaiting identification and autopsy.
On June 7, ten passengers were killed in a gruesome road accident along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway.
The crash occurred at the Salama area and involved a truck, two private vehicles, and a motorcycle.
The accident also left 27 other passengers injured, and they were rushed to the Sultan Hamud sub-county hospital for medical attention.
