NTSA’s concerns on pedestrians’ safety

Road safety for all users is a critical concern for the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA). Countrywide, diverse uses of the road contribute to ensuring safe interaction between traffic, which in our context ranges from cars, carts, cattle and cycles, to all road users including drivers, riders, pedestrians, and animals.

Non-motorised road use is a key characteristic of our roads. Yet of all the road users, none faces a more pronounced risk than the pedestrian. The statistics are alarming. In the calendar year 2016, of 2,965 road deaths, 1,097 were pedestrians, translating to 37 per cent of the total number. As of March 6, 2017, pedestrian deaths were at 41 per cent of the total 546.

In other words, you are more likely to die on our roads if you are a pedestrian than any other category of road users. The trend is consistent, in terms of road user mortality; the pedestrian persistently remains the most vulnerable road user.

Ironically, aside from being vulnerable, pedestrians also create very high risk situations for road users. Several factors have led to this precarious situation.

The mix of slow-moving pedestrians and fast-moving vehicles and motorcycles inevitability leads to conflict in which the pedestrian always loses. In our setting, travel patterns are dominated by walking and the absence of segregation between motorised and non-motorised traffic creates perilous situations in which pedestrians are exposed to the greatest risk of injury and death.

Pedestrian facilities on our roads are minimal, insufficient and unsafe.

Increased mobility through the proliferation of boda-bodas and rapid increase in vehicular traffic have exacerbated the competition for road space between boda-boda riders, who follow the rules only when it suits them, impatient pedestrians, and speeding drivers.

The encroachment of road use to non-conventional practices in the form of illegal and dangerous roadside market places not only hampers safe and smooth traffic flow, but also endangers the pedestrian further. This practice is common within cities and major roads connecting towns.

Bad habits

Our driving culture creates no room for consideration of the pedestrian. The increase of road network in densely populated areas, through the construction of fast roads which focus on motorised traffic, disregarding safe pedestrian access at the expense of a majority of the population who walk, only exposes pedestrians further.

This marginalisation of the pedestrians is displayed by road designers and users alike. Roads have been constructed cutting through communities who need to get across for work, school and leisure. The situation is aggravated by drivers who drive too fast and refuse to stop at crossings, and pedestrians who refuse to use designated crossings.

Mombasa Road offers a good example. There are several foot bridges conveniently erected to accord pedestrians safety while crossing busy sections of the road, but some pedestrians behave as though they do not exist. Some have lost their lives attempting to cross the road right under a foot bridge.

The Thika Superhighway is another case in point and which serves to illustrate the complexity of balancing the needs of various road users. Following the ruling of the High Court on February 7, 2017, it is anticipated that the rumble strips and humps on two sections of the Thika Superhighway are to be removed. Statistics from 2016 show that of the 125 fatalities recorded on Thika Superhighway, 73 per cent were pedestrians. The Superhighway is a high speed road with an extensive carriageway.

Unarguably, speed increases the exposure to life-changing injuries and death to the pedestrian. The presence of rumble strips and humps, as a traffic calming measure, is intended to mitigate the risk and consequences of collision as vehicles approach areas used for crossing by pedestrians. In the absence of other existing pragmatic and permanent alternatives, which completely segregate pedestrians from the carriageway, the National Transport and Safety Authority decries the removal of this traffic calming measure.

Nearly two years ago, NTSA in partnership with the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development (MoTIHUD) and the National Road Safety Trust (NRST), and with support from the Nairobi City County Government, commenced a programme focusing on Nairobi’s 8 high risk roads namely: Jogoo Road, Landhies Road, North Airport Road, Eastern Bypass, Waiyaki Way, Uhuru Highway, Mombasa Road and Thika Road.

The Save 1000 Lives campaign, is a pedestrian safety initiative aimed at minimising pedestrian deaths by erecting pedestrian fences (guardrails) along these high risk roads, deploying marshals to ensure proper utilisation of the designated crossing points and public education and awareness.

In the first year alone, the campaign saw a drop of 39.8 per cent in pedestrian deaths in Nairobi County. Through further partnership, the authority hopes to replicate this commendable success Nationwide. NTSA therefore invites corporates and organisations to partner in constructing pedestrian fences and contribute to keeping our roads safe.

Ms Waithaka is the Director of Road Safety, NTSA