• Privately owned vehicles accounted for the majority of accidents
At least 2181 people have been killed in road accidents since January with a majority of victims from Nairobi county, NTSA says.
The death toll increased by 276, compared to statistics from a similar period last year.
A report by the National Transport and Safety Authority, seen by the Star, shows Nairobi leading with 275 fatalities as of August 19.
Kiambu follows in second with 183 deaths, Machakos 141 , Nakuru 134 and Makueni 87.
Embu looks like the safest county in terms of road carnage after recording 39 fatalities, the least from any county.
Narok and Siaya recorded 42 deaths each with Kitui losing 45 residents in road accidents. The report shows 46 people died in Nyandarua.
Last year, 273 black spots across the country were identified by NTSA, 199 of them being in the Northern Corridor and 74 in Nairobi.
Pedestrians were again the majority of victims, accounting for 839 deaths. Over the same period last year, 727 pedestrians were killed as a result of road crashes.
The number of motorcyclists increased to 641 fatalities from last year's 515.
Passengers killed on the road also rose to 450 from 433 during the same period last year.
At least 204 drivers died in road crashes compared to last year's 193 and 47 pedal cyclists also lost their lives compared to 37 in 2018.
The report sayst privately owned vehicles were the most involved in road crashes with 575 incidents.
Commercial vehicles were second with 504 cases, followed by 439 motorcycles. A total of 346 matatus, including buses, were involved in accidents.
The reports says there were 286 unknown vehicles involved in accidents and 14 government vehicles also making up the numbers.
Five tuk-tuks, four handcarts and two pedal cycles were also involved.
Boda bodas contributed to 439 accidents.
NTSA director for road safety Njeri Waithaka said the authority was particularly worried by accidents involving boda boda riders.
She said they had developed regulations on boda boda which if implemented, will reduce road fatalities.
The regulations require riders to join associations that will streamline their operations.
On November 22 last year, Interior CS Fred Matiang'i and his Transport counterpart James Macharia gazetted a task force to introduce reforms in the boda-boda sector.
The 12-member team on policy, legal and administrative reforms on public motorcycle transport was given 60 days to execute its mandate.
In December, Matiang'i extended the deadline for boda boda operators to comply with safety guidelines to May this year.
The new regulations will make it an offense to carry more than one pillion passenger.
They require headlights to be on the road at all times.
The NTSA data showed July as Kenya's darkest month with 317 deaths in road crashes. it was followed by April with 314 deaths, March 306, June 294, February 269, May 255 and January 235. As of August 19, 191 deaths had been recorded on the road for the month.
edited by peter obuya