By Mercy Kachenge
Nairobi, Kenya: The Ministry of Interior and National Coordination calls for road safety as Kenyans head to the festive season.This comes after a grisy accident that occurred at Iguhu Bridge along Kisumu Kakamega Highway that claimed 13 lives.
Speaking at his offices, Dr. Musalia Mudavadi, the Prime Cabinet Secretary and acting Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Coordination, urged all road users to exercise extra caution and vigilance to ensure safety of all road users as well as students sitting for the Kenya National Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams.
According to Dr. Musalia, records indicate that this year there have been more fatalities and serious injuries among pillion passengers, motorcyclists and pedestrians some of which were preventable. Statistics show that between January and November 4,047 people lost their lives compared to 3,726 during the same period in 2023.
“There have been a total of 20,369 accidents compared to 19,262 in 2023 among these accidents,there were 10,124 serious injuries up from 9,059 last year,” he said.
Adding that the statistics indicate that there has been an immense increase of accidents. Dr.Musalia urged that motorists and Public Service Vehicles (PSV) need to ensure that they drive carefully by adhering to the road safety rules and also ensuring their vehicles are compliant and roadworthy.
He emphasized on the need of traffic police officers to ensure that all PSVs are roadworthy and driven carefully.
“The traffic police need to play a pivotal role in ensuring that all the PSV on the road have the registered name of the sacco,company , institution,inspection status , PSV having a valid Road Service Licence and operate from their licensed routes” he noted.
