Kenya to use new technology to improve road safety

By Road Safety Hub reporter

Kenya’s road safety agency is investing in modern technology to enhance road safety.

The National Transport and Safety Authority on Thursday announced that it has acquired modern breathalyzer, commonly known as alcoblow and night vision speed cameras to nab traffic laws offenders.

NTSA Chairman Jackson Waweru said in a statement that the agency will also roll out new smart driving licence.

“The new DL will have a biometric system that will facilitate capturing of driver details with the aim of profiling them. This data will help the Authority and any other interested institutions profile drivers based on their behavior and driving history,” he said.

He said the smart driving licence will tame repeat offenders and good drivers will be rewarded.

Stating that the agency is improving its road crash data collection, Mr Waweu said statistics for January to June 30 this year show that 2,834 lives were lost in traffic crashes.

This number is lower than 3,150 lives lost last year, he said.

“Significant reduction in fatalities was observed among pedestrians while the weekends had the highest number of fatalities in comparison to the weekdays. Notably, majority of the road crash victims comprised of the youth aged between the 20 and 44 years,” he said.

He said the reduction in fatalities has seen the agency for the first time achieve its target of reducing traffic crashes by 10 percent.

He said the agency has observed that 91% of the traffic crashes were attributed to human related  factors including speeding, reckless driving, dangerous overtaking, drink driving, drink walking, drink riding, motorists using unfamiliar roads during weekends and failing to use helmets.

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