Kenyan road traffic injuries cost the economy 4bn Kenyan Shillings every year, according to the country’s transport minister.
In a speech delivered at the launch of the AA of Kenya’s Think Before You Drive campaign, Transport Minister Chris Murungaru pointed out that 3000 people were being killed each year on Kenyan roads, a tremendous human and economic cost, and road traffic injuries were the third leading cause of death after HIV/AIDS and malaria. The minister called on the private sector, and particularly the insurance sector, to do more to fund road safety programmes. Dr Murungaru described the AA of Kenya as ‘one institution that has relentlessly campaigned at times single handedly to bring awareness [of road safety] to the public domain’.
The launch of the five month campaign was held at the Grand Regency Hotel, Nairobi, with invited guests from government, politics and media, as well as representatives of the World Bank and the Deputy Secretary of the ministry of Transport. David Njoroge, Director General of the AA of Kenya explained that the Think Before You Drive campaign would be conducted jointly with the traffic police during the holiday periods of October, December and New Year. The campaign, co-funded by the FIA Foundation, will include radio and TV adverts. Mr Njoroge said: ‘3000 people die needlessly on the roads every year and it is time we assumed full responsibility for what is happening and ensure that road safety is firmly established on the national policy agenda. We all have a duty and conscience if we care about tomorrow’.