How city roads are a danger to school children

School children in Nairobi are likely to be involved in road traffic crashes due to ignored safety measures which could be easily implemented.

This is the preliminary finding by a team of road safety advocates drawn from different countries who gathered in Kenya for training.

The team which gave its feedback after piloting a new app in two zones on Tuesday this week around two schools in Kasarani, found that safety of roads around them were poor and wanting. The study was done on Tuesday near Murema and St Dominic schools along the Mwiki-Kasarani Road in a bid to establish whether learners are safe on the roads.

Comprising 21 grassroots leaders from 15 countries in Africa, the team which did the research has been in Nairobi on a four-day road safety training organised by the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety.

They used the app developed by the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) to ascertain to what scale roads are safe for school children; and the verdict from the two schools was that safety is compromised, a situation that is replicated in many other schools around the city.

Impunity and design flaws were noted for being the greatest culprits endangering the lives of children on these roads.

Absence of road demarcation, pavements, road signs, pedestrian crossings and poor drainage were identified as the biggest causes of danger facing the children which must be looked into if roads around the schools are to be made safe for pupils.

Other possible dangers include proliferation of businesses near the roads as well as illegal parking by trucks on parts of the roads. These hinder visibility for the children whose judgement is never fully developed as far as use of roads are concerned.

Speaking while getting the feedback from the team, Njeri Waithaka, the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) director for road safety said that one in every five people who die on the roads in Kenya is a child and this makes road crashes the leading killer of children over the age of five.

"We are looking at ways on how to address these challenges and one of the solutions involved the Traffic Amendment Act which focuses on the safety of school children," said Ms Waithaka.

The study is the hallmark of the first ever Alliance Advocates Training in Africa – Nairobi, Kenya.

The advocates were taught how to collect and analyse data around schools even as they identify simple cost-effective ways to make the zones safer for children, a practice they will replicate in their respective countries.

Lotte Brondum, the executive director of the Global Alliance stated that the meeting is crucial to Africa which has the highest number of deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes with most of the victims being pedestrians.

“Kenya is the focal point for this international road safety training. What is learned here will be taken and replicated across Africa,” said Brondum.

Every day, 500 children die on the roads globally with most deaths being in developing countries like Kenya; many others are left with disability.

Brondum also said that the training aimed at empowering NGOs to start working on safety of children. She stated that the app once fully rolled out will allow any person to carry out data collection around the schools.

“This will mean that more people will be empowered to ensure that children are safe when they use the roads to school,” said Brondum.

Bright Oywaya, the deputy chair of NTSA said that for safety of children speed curbing measures must be put in place.

“For areas where speed cannot be captured, there must be measures to protect children and this is one of the topics that this training will focus on.

Speaking during the opening of the training, the director general of NTSA Francis Mejja, asked for more resources towards road safety programmes in the country.

Mejja posed, “How much are governments in developing countries spending on road safety? There is a dire need to mainstream road safety just like other health conditions have been.”

He also urged for a clear plan of action to avoid duplication of roles as has been witnessed in the past.