Roads board spent Sh20m to train riders, director Mohamed says

The Kenya Roads Board through the NTSA has spent Sh20 million over the last year to train boda boda riders across the country on safety matters.

Director general Rashid Mohamed said the money had gone into training the riders on  safety programmes, licensing, provision of protective equipment’s and institutional support to hospital’s trauma centres.

Mohammed who was accompanied by other board members, security officials and NTSA officials said the training is one of the many road safety initiatives that they have conducted in 14 counties.

Other counties that benefited from the training are Kisumu, Kisii, Migori, Kilifi, Busia, Nyeri, Malindi, Machakos, Nakuru, Narok, Nyamira, Kakamega and Elgeyo Marakwet and Kajiado.

He said in the 14 counties that they have visited, they have trained 5,000 riders, provided 3,000 helmets, 10,000 reflective jackets and first aid kits.

They have also trained riders who sat examination by NTSA and passed.

According to the NTSA over 3,000 people die annually from road traffic accidents.

Human behaviour accounts for over 80 per cent of these accidents.

Common behavioural leading to accidents include speeding, drunk driving, reckless driving and distraction by phones among others.

Mohammed regretted that hospital wards are full of young men and challenged the riders to exercise caution while on the roads.

“The question we must ask ourselves is are these deaths necessary? How much suffering shall we cause families before we change our ways?"

"I believe as road users boda bodas included, we can do much better,” he said.

He said the roads board aims to provide efficient road network for all users.

"We recognise that we have various road users, we must therefore share the road responsibly knowing that each of these users has rights to use the road," he said.

To support boda bodas meet government’s registration requirements, Mohammed said the board has approved the sponsorship of 100 boda boda operators for training and licensing.

He said that was the biggest number they have sponsored in a single county since the beginning of the year.

John Nyangoti who represented the board’s  chairman said the objective was to ensure the boda boda sector is well regulated.

“Our objective to support this sensitisation to also aligned to the sustainable development goals to reduce traffic deaths and injuries by 50 per cent by the year 2030,"he said.

"We also target to provide access to safe affordable, accessible, transport systems for all by the same year.” 

During the meeting, it  emerged that some riders were being used by drug peddlers for transportation to avoid detection by police.

Area OCPD James Ngetich warned such riders, saying that once security personnel catch up with them, they will be prosecuted.

The riders also received training  on riding skills, personal protection, response to accidents scenes and adherence to traffic laws.

(Edited by Francis Wadegu)