Survey: Most road accidents occur over weekends

NAIROBI, KENYA: Mombasa road has been declared the deadliest in terms of road fatalities by the National Transport and Safety Authority.

Latest statistics relayed by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) indicate that Mombasa road recorded an astonishing 42 deaths in the past one year.  In total, 365 lives have been lost in the capital city due to road carnage.

A survey conducted by the road agency and that covered a period of up to November 5 this year indicates that this is an increase from 36 deaths recorded during a similar period last year.

Waiyaiki Way was ranked as the second deadliest roads after it recorded 38 deaths followed by the newly upgraded Outering road that registered 31 deaths, followed by Thika Super highway that registered 23 deaths.

Last year, the agency recorded 31 fatalities on Waiyaki way, 19 on Outering road and 85 on Thika superhighway. Key contributing factors to the fatalities is the lack of footbridges and clearly designated crossing points.

At the same time, Private vehicles and pedestrians also continue to bear the brunt of the fatalities.

A total of 238 pedestrian deaths were recorded by NTSA for the period under review, followed by motorcyclists at 47, passengers at 40, drivers at 33 and pedal cyclists at 7.

Deaths recorded over a similar period last year indicated 261 pedestrian deaths, 58 motorcyclists’ deaths, 46 passengers, 24 drivers and 14 pedalcylists deaths.

In the year 2016 pedestrian deaths stood at 299, motorcyclists 62, passengers 64, drivers 28 and pedalcylists 9.  

Private vehicles lead in terms of accidents with 102 fatalities, followed by PSVs with 87, commercial vehicles 50 and motorcycles at 25.

This is however a decrease compared to 117 Private vehicle fatalities, 101 PSVs, 52 unknown, commercial vehicles at 92 and motorcycles at 48 for the same period under review last year.

Meanwhile, weekends were flagged for recording the highest number of accidents. This year 79 deaths occurred on a Sunday, 58 on Saturdays, 55 on Fridays and 48 on Mondays.

In 2017, 80 deaths were recorded on Sunday, 76 on Saturdays, 75 on Fridays and 37 on Monday.

Country wide, a total of 2,642 lives have been lost due to road accidents with 4,010 being seriously injured and another 4,527slightly injured as of November 11 2018. This represents an increase compared to 2414 fatalities recorded last year comprising of 3,289 seriously injured and 3,704 slightly injured.