Mombasa leads in road safety, NTSA urges other counties to follow suit

The Mombasa county government has received praise for its effective efforts in enhancing road safety, particularly noted by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) Director General George Njao.

“If you take a look at our (NTSA) road safety plan you will see that there are some things that we have copied from Mombasa. Mombasa has been the pioneer of several initiatives including the pedestrian walk and the only other county that has at least managed to copy that is Kisumu".

Njao urged other counties to follow Mombasa's lead in prioritizing road safety measures.

The NTSA Director General commended Mombasa's Inspectorate department for their commendable work and emphasized the need for other counties to emulate their strategies.

The Johns Hopkins international injury research unit's report, conducted between December 2022 and October 2023, revealed a stable number of road crash deaths at sixty-nine (69) since 2021.

The report highlighted the vulnerability of motorcyclists, pedestrians, and bicyclists, constituting 88 percent of reported road traffic facilities in 2022.

Recommendations from the report included enhanced enforcement of speed limits, proper helmet and seat belt use, and advocating for the disposable helmet liner standard.

Governor Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir acknowledged the impact on vulnerable road users, emphasizing the need for an all-systems approach to address speed-related issues.

“From this report, it is clear that vulnerable road users are most affected, speed being a major contributing factor.

Data and recommendations in the report are an opportunity for us as a city to prioritize areas that need immediate attention to reduce crashes and deaths on our roads,” said Governor Abdulswamad.

He noted speed remains a critical issue for the devolved unit to address and needs an all-systems approach for it to be effectively addressed and save lives.

The county government, led by Transport and Infrastructure executive Daniel Manyala, is actively working on introducing bills focusing on transport, non-motorized transport policy, and road safety policy in the next two months to further enhance road safety measures.

The Mombasa-Malindi Road/Links Road has been mentioned to be among the high-risk fatal locations, according to a report on Mombasa Road Safety conducted by the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS).

The others include Mombasa–Nairobi Road, Likoni–Ukunda Road, and Changamwe Ward along Magongo Road.

The report highlighted an inconsistent pattern between 2019 and 2022. During this period, reported deaths surged by 44 percent, while serious injuries saw a steep increase of 109 percent, based on data obtained from police crash records.