NTSA: June 2024 ranked most dangerous month for travel so far

According to data released by Kenya's National Transport and Safety Authority, June was the most deadly month for road travel this year.

411 lives were lost in road crashes, a reduction from 439 in 2023.

March followed, recording 403 deaths, compared to 403 in the same month last year.

January recorded 389 road fatalities while the same month last year had 379.

April recorded the same road fatalities compared to April 2023 at 388. February had 374 road fatalities, an increase compared to 340 in February 2023.

May and July recorded 341 and 101 road fatalities respectively this year, compared to 340 and 97 for 2023.

In July from 1st to 7th, 101 people died from road crashes across the country.

NTSA statistics show that most fatalities happened in the afternoon and at night with the peak hour being 9 pm.

"Most of the fatal road traffic crashes occurred between 3 pm and 11 pm with the peak hour being between 9.00 p.m.," reads the data.

NTSA highlighted that road crashes during this time of the day in July were largely attributed to reduced enforcement and high traffic and pedestrians in what they termed as 'rush hour.'

"Also pedestrians crossing at non-designated or unsafe areas and getting easily knocked down or run over by speeding vehicles," reads the data in part.

Other causes include driver fatigue, poor visibility, especially for pedestrians, and drunk driving.

Still, in July, Saturdays are the most deadly days where 21 lives have been lost.

Mondays recorded 18 road fatalities while Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays each had 15 road deaths.

Thursday had nine deaths from road crashes while Tuesday had eight.

Furthermore, motorbikes were the most common type of vehicle involved in road crashes this month, accounting for 24 fatalities.

They were followed by privately owned vehicles at 23 and Public Service Vehicles which resulted in 20 deaths.

Commercial vehicles accounted for 18 road crashes, unknown at 15 and government-owned vehicles having caused one road fatality.

Between January 1 and July 7, 2024, at least 11,502 people were involved in vehicle accidents.

NTSA said 2,407 died while the rest were left mostly with life-changing injuries.

At least 6,083 people were seriously injured and 4,083 were slightly injured.

This is an increase of 1,628 compared to 2023 during the same period where 9,874 people were involved in road crashes and 2,341 died; 5,194 got seriously injured and 3,742 were slightly injured.