NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 23 – Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir has announced a three-phased response to escalating road carnage, unveiling measures targeting infrastructure, driver behaviour, and vehicle safety as schools reopen on August 26.
The intervention follows a surge in fatal crashes in August, with more than eighty people killed in just four days and 2,933 lives lost between January and August 10, according to ministry data.
Chirchir said findings by a multi-agency team he constituted on August 12 to audit high-risk road revealed three major causes of fatalities — unsafe road sections, reckless driving, and unroadworthy vehicles — necessitating urgent coordinated action.
The ministry’s phased plan, developed in collaboration with road agencies and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), includes upgrading hazardous road sections flagged as high-risk.
Chirchir also vowed the enforcement of KS 372:2019 standards for passenger vehicle body construction through intensified NTSA inspections and expanded road safety education and enforcement, with renewed focus on speed control, compliance, and behaviour change.
His announcement on Friday came in the wake of a string of deadly crashes , including a grisly accident in Kisumu on August 8 that claimed the lives of nineteen mourners leaving twenty-six others seriously injured when a school bus overturned along the Kisumu–Kakamega road at the notorious Mamboleo blackspot.
Kisumu County Referral Hospital and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital admitted several survivors in critical condition.
Multi-agency approach
A separate crash on the Mai Mahiu–Narok highway claimed two more lives when a long-distance ENA Coach bus was involved in a multiple-vehicle collision.
Chirchir had tasked a multi-agency team to audit dangerous road segments, and reconstruct crash scenes, to inform urgent interventions to avert further loss of lives.
As schools reopen, the CS urged motorists to be extra vigilant near institutions, avoid speeding, and ensure vehicles are roadworthy.
He also advised pedestrians to use designated crossings and exercise caution on busy roads.
“This holistic and collaborative approach will go a long way in reducing fatalities and injuries on our roads. Road traffic accidents are not only predictable but also preventable if all road users play their part,” Chirchir said.
The Ministry said reforms under the National Road Safety Action Plan 2024–2028, which provides for tighter regulation of school and commercial transport, enhanced enforcement of drink-driving laws, mandatory vehicle inspections, and reviews of the Traffic Act will from part of the reforms.
He also cited infrastructure upgrades such as the Nithi Bridge redesign and the dualling of the Rironi–Mau Summit Road as part of long-term safety improvements.
