Tenders blamed for pedestrian deaths in Nairobi

Political interests and poor policies have been blamed for the death of pedestrians on Nairobi roads. Due to vested interests, road tenders end up being given to contractors who are not up to task.

A new report that looks at the politics of road safety and how they can be resolved says vested interests in the road sector is one of the causes of deaths on Kenyan roads.

The report titled, “At the Crossroads”, by Kenyan journalist Beatrice Obwocha and Clare Cummings, a fellow at Overseas Development Institute (ODI), was released in Nairobi on Friday.

The researchers said road safety policies were not effective because of political interests and interference in the building of roads. “Government fragmentation, entrenched interests, enforcement and public perception of road safety all contribute toward pedestrian deaths,” said Obwocha.

According to the report, resolving road safety issues remain a low political priority as infrastructural developments are laced with the desire for tenders, kickbacks and political mileage, which puts road users at risk.

“Nairobi is one of the fastest growing cities in Africa with more people using cars every day, yet road and pedestrian safety remain a low priority. While wealthier residents can often afford to travel by car, poorer people rely on public transport or walk, meaning they are at most risk of being killed or seriously injured in a collision,” said Cummings.

Pedestrian fatalities

The report comes at a time statistics by the National Transport and Safety Authority show that between 2010 and 2016, pedestrian fatalities in Nairobi topped all other deaths resulting from road crashes. In 2016, three out of every five deaths on roads in Nairobi were pedestrians.

“The leadership is building more roads for motorised traffic while taking little cognisance of the fact that more than half of road users in the city are pedestrians,” said Obwocha.

Road safety audits

The report says a very small amount of funding is allocated to non-motorised vehicle facilities, road safety audits and raising public awareness on road safety.

Some of the major roads in Nairobi with high casualties of pedestrians are Mombasa Road, Southern By-pass and Thika Superhighway. In 2016, these roads had a combined fatalities of 99, most of them pedestrians.

To increase pedestrian safety on the roads, the report suggests that there be road safety assessments, road redesign for bus rapid transit system, inter-county competition on road safety and self-regulation by boda boda riders.

Speaking at the launch of the report, Saul Billingsley, the executive director of Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, which supported the study, said the problem the city faced as far as safety of pedestrians was concerned was a political one. “Every eight years vehicles in Nairobi increase and with dependence on fossil fuels, importation of old cars and lack of a proper air quality monitoring system, there are bound to be increased challenges with increased number of roads,” said Billingsley.

He urged policymakers to design cities around people, not around cars.