Photo courtesy Kenya News Agency

12 people killed in accident at a notorious black spot, the Nithi Bridge on the Meru-Nairobi road, after a 20-seater van collided head on with a Toyota Hilux pick-up truck. Nine dead after a following another head-on collision between a matatu and truck at the Londiani Junction-Muhoroni Road in Kericho County. The carnage on Kenya’s roads goes on.

Every day, on average, 12 people die on Kenya’s roads.

A revealing report in The Daily Nation by Kitavi Mutua (October 22nd, 2024) illustrated the full horror of these simple statistics. Muta pointed out that the 3,369 deaths on Kenya’s roads between January 2024 and mid-September translates to 374 deaths per month and that is the equivalent of a Jumbo jet crashing every 30 days with all on board dying as a result, or a 14-seater matatu crashing every day with no survivors.

Of these fatalities 1,281 were pedestrians, 825 motorcyclists, 654 passengers and 281 drivers.

Moreover, these figures based on the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) are almost certainly and underestimation as they relate only to ‘reported’ casualties. Many accidents go unreported.

Kenya high in the league of road deaths in Africa

It’s a league Kenya does not want to appear in as the country is now among the top five African countries where you are more likely to die in a road accident.

The tragic human cost of these appalling statistics comes at a financial cost as well. According to the Ministry of Health Kenya spends Sh46.1 billion every year treating accident victims.

Hundreds of thousands injured

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Status Report in Road Safety published in July reported that road traffic accidents are now ranked ninth as the leading cause of death in Kenya.

In addition to the deaths resulting from accidents on Kenya’s roads, hundreds of thousands of people are also seriously injured suffering long-term impairment and life-long disabilities.

It’s not just in Kenya that such horrendous fatality figures are recorded. The WHO’s status report on road safety showed that Africa has the highest road fatality rate in the world at 19.4 per 100,000 people compared to the global average of 15 per 100,000.