Last Updated 13 years ago by Kenya Engineer
By Eng. Jane Mutulili, BSc. Reg. Eng, MIEK?
1.Problem Statement
Over 3,000 lives are lost annually to road accidents in Kenya, placing it among the countries with highest rate of accidents globally, despite its low level motorization compared to other developed economies. Worse still, for every death up to 50 people are injured or disabled.
It must be everyone’s concern to minimize the road carnage, and to do this, everyone must do what is possible within their own means without looking at the government and other external means.
It is a common and misplaced belief that skill and knowledge about driving is all that is needed for one to be safe on the roads. However, one of the most important influences on driving ability is the attitude towards driving and the resultant behavior on the road. A lot of those things that happen on the road are caused by attitude and behavior.
Change of behavior and attitude on our roads is what everyone can and must do! Everyone must develop a culture of decent behavior on the road, and must take responsibility of, not only their own lives, but of the lives of those who are in the vehicle with them. They must also take responsibility of other drivers and pedestrians, and respect animals and other features on the road. This will ultimately save their lives and that of others. Most important, the driver should put safety above everything else while driving, and should always be on the alert and give 100% attention to the road as much as possible. There are lots of distractions on the road but if safety is prioritized, everything else will work out fine.
There has been a lot of talk about police bribery, bad roads, even the devil getting blamed for the accidents. Whereas some or all the above might be true, that attitude removes any sense of responsibilities from the driver and the passengers and all have accepted it as fate, whatever happens happens.
There has been much talk about changing people’s behavior and attitude towards driving but little is ever done about it. It is common knowledge that a good percentage of the road accidents are caused by driver error. And carelessness! And arrogance! And recklessness! And speed! And overloading! And foolish competitiveness! All of these are avoidable.
We have come to the point where we must walk the talk. The campaign must be to change the attitude and the behavior on the roads and save lives!
2. What to do?
To realize this paradigm shift in behavior and attitude requires men and women that point to us the reality of our situation and one that can build a culture that is responsive to the common good. There is a need for discipline and an understanding that when accidents happen, we all lose as a society. Such reasoning would lead us, perhaps, to behave more responsibly and in many respects avert the kind of loss incurred daily in this county. The cumulative costs to the country, generally, and the families of victims, specifically, must be immense considering that many accident victims are active and economically productive.
Long term care for those maimed cost a lot both emotionally and economically, lose of income generating individuals leaving families in dire strait and emotional costs which are difficult to quantify. The agony caused to families, and dependents losing their loved ones, is immeasurable while the subsequent destitution that dependents (especially orphaned children) have to face can be colossal. Other costs include taking up already stretched medical facilities and personnel, escalating insurance costs premiums, the time and resources used up during the funerals etc.
We know that the quickest way to make people change their attitude as drivers, in an instant, is to saturate the roads with police vehicles. And make sure that these police take bribes that are very punitive and that the fines are very high and the jail terms for offenders are long and miserable and non-negotiable.
This proposal to try and change drivers’ attitude in this country at minimum cost and hopefully having maximum effect takes a different and more practical approach. Behavior and attitude change campaigns around the country. More like the having ‘Kick Polio’ campaigns, HIV awareness campaigns, Hand Washing Campaigns etc., using the jigger campaign hands-on approach, and the multilevel salesmanship.
Everyone has an idea what good behavior and attitude is, otherwise the Mr. Aggressive would not be getting offended when Mr. Reckless drives badly. It is only that they believe it affects the other person, not them. The campaign will set out to sensitize everyone on how good attitude and behavior will make their journey much safer and more pleasant, by following simple rules:-
Responsibility; Anticipation; Concentration; Patience; Confidence and Positive attitude. Other attributes of good road behavior and attitude will be developed as the campaign moves on.
i.Responsibility: Towards yourself to obey traffic rules; to avoid driving under the influence of alcohol or on medication, etc. to avoid driving when you are tired or mentally stressed. A sense of responsibility and consideration towards other road users.
ii.Anticipation: If you plan ahead and try to anticipate the actions of other road users, you can avoid being taken by surprise thus prevent some hazards developing. Take early evasive action for those hazards that do develop. (even the good drivers get hit if they are not careful).
iii.Concentration: should be on the road and being safe and making others safe. Allowing your mind to wander may cause you seconds of reaction time and this can be fatal. Make sure you have good vision, good hearing (avoid loud music and ear phones), good health (not driving under medication or extreme stress or pain), self-discipline (driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs)
iv.Patience: Keep calm, show restraint, use sound judgment, don’t use aggressive language (this offends your passengers without insulting the intended recipients), don’t try to teach another road user a lesson (you have no idea what they are going through).
v.Confidence: Have confidence in yourself while moving on the road, but do not be over-confident. It may lead to carelessness.
vi.Good driving attitude is the result of constantly practicing the three c’s: Courtesy, Caution and Common sense
3. How to go about the campaign
3.1 Set a baseline
Carry out an accident survey (study) for the last few years on identified roads. This survey shall include the one year where Michuki rules were effective: –
i.Nairobi-Mai-Mahiu Road, Mai Mahiu-Narok Road; Narok- Kisii Road:
ii.Nairobi – Nakuru Road; Nakuru –Total Road, Total-Eldoret Road, Total- Kericho Road, Kericho-Kisumu Road,
iii.Nairobi-Nyeri Road
iv.Nairobi-Mombasa Raod
In this survey the specific stretch of the road with the most accidents will be identified, and the characteristics of the road at that point noted (steep, narrow, slippery, slopping) etc. The kind of accidents will also be noted (fatalities, time of most accidents, etc). The type of cars that are involved in the accidents will also be profiled (buses, tracks, other public vehicles, personal cars etc). And finally, and as far as possible, profile the drivers on those cars and the owners of the cars.
This baseline survey will assist in:
i.Identifying the accident prone areas and trying to see if there is anything physical that can be done to the road, e.g. Cautionary road signs, side rails and barriers or if the road design should be changed.
ii.Inform on the kind of campaigns that should be done for that road and especially the kind of training these frequent drivers on that road should be given
iii.Shall be used as a monitoring base for the performance of the exercise at the end of a period.
3.2 The campaigns
These should take several dimensions:
i.Media, where all the visual media channels will dedicate some minutes of primetime to train on good road attitude and air safety slogans.
ii.Radio channels dedicate prime time on road safety. In the olden days, there was always the commandant of police who used to give the weekly statistics on accidents within the country, preceded and followed by the song ‘Dereva, Chunga Maisha”. That should be a start.
iii.Personal interaction, using the multilevel marketing strategy. An initial group of say 20 persons are trained on the attitude and road behavior. This could start with 20 friends or professional colleagues etc. In pairs or individually, the persons who have been trained will each train another 20 within the month, bringing the total of those trained to 400 etc.
20.00
400.00
8,000.00
160,000.00
3,200,000.00
In an ideal situation, in a span of 5 months, 3.2M Kenyans will have heard about the behavior change. If only 10% of them decide to change, we shall have had 320,000 good drivers on the road and this is a lot.
iv.Mass training
Most of the matatus (public service vehicles) have Saccos. Through the saccos, it is possible to give lessons to all the drivers in the saccos within a specified period. Most bus owners own fleets of buses and the same should happen. Incentives, coercion, bullying or whatever means should be used to make sure that all public service drivers have a behavior change.
We shall also target all the schools and sensitize the drivers. Students shall also be sensitized, first because they are some of the passengers who get affected when accident happens, and secondly because they are the future drivers and therefore will eventually use the lessons. School pupils shall be sensitized, not just because they are future drivers but because they shall be sounding warning to the parents and other drivers the when necessary.
Universities and other tertiary colleges’ students come from all over the country and if sensitized then facilitated they would be a very good medium for sensitization.
The campaign shall not only target the drivers but also the passengers whose lives are endangered during these rides. They are normally left voiceless and only speak once the accidents happen. This is for fear for retribution, but if everyone in the vehicle is aware of their rights, this fear would be eliminated and passengers would be more proactive.
v.Punitive Action
Make the matatu and bus owners take collective responsibility, as proposed by the cabinet Minister, Eng. Kamau. If one driver errs, the whole fleet is removed from the road for inspection and for retraining of drivers.
President that the owners of the PSC vehicles will be held accountable for the accidents will be a good incentive.
3.3 Vehicle Condition
A friend commented after the Narok accident that killed 42 persons and injured another 34 that he has noticed that nowadays all the buses that are involved accident have their roofs ripped off, unlike before where, after the accident, the vehicle was left in one piece. This might be worthy investigating how the bus bodies, which are locally assembled, are being fixed. He was of the opinion that, had the roofs been left intact, we would have had fewer fatalities. This kind of data will be captured during the baseline survey but it is worth investigating.
3.4 Use of catch phrases
Use of simple catch phrases in the campaigns, very simple and to the point.eg:-
•“CLICK IT OR TICKET” To get people to wear seat belts,
•“Drive sober or get pulled over” to deal with drunk driving.
•“Alert today, alive tomorrow” to encourage paying attention to the road.
•“Honk if you love Jesus, text and drive if you want to see him” for not texting and driving.
The above phrases have been borrowed from elsewhere. Maybe we can allow Kenyans to come up with many slogans and, make a big issue of coming up with the slogan and give a prize, put on the news, etc. Make it a big event.
3.5 Involve Children
Involve the children. I may not care about you but if your children have to live without you, I might care. Pull on peoples’ heart strings by making kids involved in the adverts.
3.6 Make punishments uncomfortable
Make the punishment fit the crime as far as making the person the most uncomfortable. People who can pay a fine, have to donate time. People with no money, have to give fines.
3.7 Follow up on accidents
When accidents happen, it becomes a sad story for every one for a very brief period of time. The family is left to mourn and bury the dead and cater for the medical bills. Lately, the government has offered to meet the cost of the funeral expenses and waiver the medical bills. Whereas this is helpful in the short run to the family, it does not do much to avoid future occurrences.
After the accident, everyone is vulnerable and everyone is ready to listen. Even as we empathize with the families, we should take that opportunity to debrief the fellow drivers and the saccos on that route and on all the routes. We can take this opportunity to also sensitize them on the attitude and behavior on the road. They are more likely than ever to appreciate the intensity of accidents and put themselves in the position of the victims.
3.8 Seek Devine Intervention
“Rumour has it that the grisly road accidents in Kenya are deliberately caused to appease the gods of a group of devil worshiping leaders, after the devil priests these evil leaders have prayed to demand blood be spilled and also to cause alarm in the country.” I know this sounds really ridiculous to any sane minded person. But this was posted in the social media, and there was amazing response to this blog. Evidently, many people have strong believes on this. In Kisii after the school bus accident, three alleged witches were stoned and burnt alive by members of the community on the belief that they had caused many deaths through witchcraft. The grisly incident was posted on facebook!
We could ignore this as a primitive way of thinking, or we could seek divine intervention for the same, after all that is the only known way to man to fight the devil. At the notorious accident sections, we could have very intense prayers from all denominations. This will serve a dual purpose; people will know that it is in their power to do something about it, and the particular accident prone section will also be highlighted and everyone made aware of the probability of accident at that point.
3.9 Legalize Bribes to Police
Maybe the police being bribed isn’t the worst thing. Paying is paying. It should be legalized and expensive and non negotiable. People would then think twice!
4. Partners
Everyone is either affected or lives in the danger of being affected. The campaign should be for everyone. The multilevel campaign should start within families, churches, chamas, schools, youth groups etc. It should initially cost nothing as it shall be by word of mouth. However, sensitization in the media for people to accept the concept might cost some money.
The partners involved should be:
•Government Ministries
•Insurance companies
•All Universities, private and public
•Other Tertiary Universities
•Schools
•Matatu Saccos and Associations
•Bus Companies
•All media houses
•The Christian leaders (Churches) and the Muslim Leaders (Mosques)
• World Bank
•Private Businesses (Communication lines (Safaricom, Airtel etc), Banks (Equity Bank, Family Bank, etc)
•Private Companies
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