Kenya is losing hundreds of lives every month to road accidents and its not because our roads are cursed, but because our people have become careless. The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) reports that fatalities have continued to rise, with pedestrians, bodaboda riders, and matatu users topping the list.
It’s a tragedy that keeps repeating itself, fueled by the same bad habits we refuse to correct.
From pedestrians who dash across busy highways ignoring zebra crossings and footbridges, to riders who believe helmets and reflectors are optional, the culture of negligence is everywhere.
Many still forget the basic safety rule taught in school ;look right, look left and look right again before crossing . Instead, we risk our lives daily in the name of convenience.
Motorcyclists who should be among the most cautious are often the most reckless. Over speeding, overlapping, carrying more than one passenger, and riding without helmets or reflector jackets has turned what should be a reliable means of transport into a death trap.
Every day, hospitals receive new victims, young men whose only mistake was ignoring traffic discipline.
But the blame doesn’t end there. Matatu drivers and conductors, too, continue to flout every rule in the book. They pick and drop passengers anywhere, block lanes, overlap in traffic, and turn highways into racing tracks.
The competition for passengers has become more important than the safety of human life. Many seem to have forgotten that speed kills, and no destination is worth a coffin.
It’s time to call out every one of us; pedestrians, riders, drivers, and passengers alike. Road safety isn’t just the government’s responsibility; it’s a shared duty.
Wearing helmets, using zebra crossings, fastening seatbelts, and obeying traffic lights aren’t favors to the police rather they’re choices that save lives.
If we continue treating road rules as suggestions instead of laws, then we will keep counting bodies on the tarmac. The statistics are not just numbers they are families broken, dreams cut short, and futures buried too soon.
Let’s change how we walk, ride, and drive. The road doesn’t forgive mistakes, and no one is immune to tragedy. Responsibility is the only route to survival.
