Step up road safety drive

Preliminary observations from the bus and lorry collision on the Kisumu-Kericho highway on Thursday night, in which more than 10 people perished and nearly 40 were injured, point to a major cause of the rising fatal road accidents. It is driver error that manifests itself in speeding, recklessness, dangerous overtaking, incompetence, fatigue and other avoidable factors.

As National Transport and Safety Authority director-general Francis Meja has said, if only drivers could exercise a little more care, the slaughter on our roads would be curbed. According to Police Spokesman Charles Owino, the bus driver appears to have been blinded by the lights of an oncoming truck, and speeding cannot be ruled out as one of the possible causes of the smash.

At the core of the road safety campaign that must be stepped up, the NTSA boss is quite right that the main focus must be on changing the behaviour and attitude of drivers. After all, it is them to blame for the poor judgement, speeding and recklessness that have caused so much pain, with several thousand people killed on the roads every year. Nearly 2,500 people have died on the roads since the beginning of the year. And considering the notoriety of public service vehicle drivers during the Christmas season, which is just two months away, the death toll could surpass the annual average of 3,000 fatalities.

Of course, traffic police and NTSA officials will, as they do every day, be mobilising the resources at their disposal to help curb the carnage. However, these two agencies combined do not have the capacity to monitor every stretch of road right across the country to ensure that motorists obey traffic rules and regulations. Clearly, there is a need to promote a road safety culture, and motorists have a vital role to play here. But safety cannot be enhanced without involving other road users, including passengers and pedestrians.

Matatu and bus passengers, for instance, must not allow drivers to rush them to their early graves, and it pays dividends if they speak out loudly or ask to get off PSVs whose drivers are speeding. They should also report errant drivers to traffic police. It will take the collective efforts of all to make the roads safer.