Kenya promises response after latest mass fatality crash
The Kenyan government has promised new road safety interventions focusing on infrastructure black spots, stronger traffic enforcement and improved driver training following a head-on collision that killed 22 people on the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway.
Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir said the government would strengthen the management of collision black spots, intensify enforcement against dangerous driving and tighten training and oversight of commercial and public service vehicle drivers.
The measures were announced following the fatal crash last Saturday at Kanga, on the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, a notorious killer road. The incident involved a collision between a cement truck and a passenger bus belonging to a Mombasa church. It follows another mass fatality crash, which killed 17 people, on the same highway in early October.
Chirchir announced the government was pursuing “coordinated and sustained interventions to address the country's road safety challenges, working with Parliament, the Judiciary, the National Police Service, county governments and other stakeholders."
"The first intervention will focus on structured funding for road safety infrastructure, with the government seeking to strengthen the black spot management programme", he said. The government did not provide details of funding or timescale for the highway assessment.
Kenya’s president, William Ruto, expressed his “heartfelt condolences” to the families of those killed and injured in the weekend’s crash, and directed the authorities to conduct thorough inspections of public service vehicles to ensure they comply with the required safety standards. On Monday the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) launched a 24 hour crackdown, with inspection roadblocks to check the roadworthiness of commercial vehicles, driver licences, seat belt use and speed compliance.
NTSA Director General Nashon Odhiambo Kondiwa called for the government to declare road crashes a national disaster. “Road crashes have reached a national emergency level, with about 20,000 crashes claiming over 5,000 lives annually, destroying families, overwhelming our health system and eroding economic productivity,” he said. He argued that announcing a national disaster would enable coordination across national and state governments, with measurable targets across road agencies, the police and the health system.
It remains to be seen whether change results from this latest crash. Following the 3 October bus crash which killed 17 people, also from a religious community, the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) announced plans to improve safety measures, including lane separation and better signage. Previous high-profile crashes have also been met with announcements of urgent action.
The government has a national road safety plan, approved in 2024, which aims for a 50% reduction in fatalities by 2030, and calls for all high-risk roads to be audited by 2028. Legislation under the plan has recently been enacted. But despite good intentions real practical implementation of policy is slow and patchy. The lethality of the Nairobi – Mombasa highway, for example, has been documented by both national and international road safety groups for more than a decade. The latest tragedies should not come as a surprise.
Mourning the deaths of the earlier October crash, Bishop David Kamau of the Nairobi Catholic Archdiocese was reported to have advised his flock to be prepared to meet their Maker “anytime or anywhere”. Wise advice, in the absence of change on Kenya’s killer roads.
Photo by Michael Njoroge on Unsplash