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Road traffic crashes account for about 1.3 million deaths each year, the WHO’s Global status report on road safety 2015 has indicated.
Of this, about 3,000 deaths occur on our roads here in Kenya yearly.
According to the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) report, this year alone has seen a total of 2,357 Kenyans lose their lives, compared to 2,251 last year, which marks a 4.2 per cent increase.
More worrying is the fact that pedestrians once again were the most affected, recording 72 per cent of reported accidents in Nairobi alone.
It saddens that 1,024 pedestrians have died since the beginning of 2015, while 837 have been left nursing life threatening injuries.
It is time Kenyans took a collective step to help curb runaway road carnage, which is worse than terrorism.
Traffic police and other stakeholders must stop lawbreakers to ensure no more lives are lost on our roads. As we get into the festive mood, we must not lose our heads at the altar of merry making and careless partying that will endanger our lives and those of other road users.
To start with, we should consider introducing or revamping road safety lessons in the curriculum right from primary school to the tertiary levels. It would be useless to teach a primary child about road safety and forget the university graduate whose dream is to spin a fuel guzzler, and fast, while high as a kite.
That 262 drivers died in 2015, an increase from 199 who died in 2014, is worrying. Let us also do something to ensure we do not add to the 526 passengers who have already lost their lives in 2015.
