Issue 2: The Killing Fields that are Kenyan Roads: Increasing Traffic Accidents as a Human Security Concern

More people die or are maimed because of road accidents in Kenya than as a result of terrorist incidents and other disasters combined. This brief highlights and presents road traffic accidents as a human security issue. Road users’ errors, the condition of the road, environmental factors, and vehicle defects cause most accidents. The situation is made worse by the citizens’ culture of disobedience of the law, and weak and/or apathetic traffic law enforcement measures. Although the effects of the accidents are felt at household and national levels, the problem of increasing road traffic accidents receives little government attention. Measures to control speed and drunken driving should be intensified. Public roads and highways should be constructed well, and maintained regularly. Pedestrians and other road users should be educated on road safety, and traffic rules offenders punished to reduce careless use of roads including walking on areas meant for vehicles, and selling wares on roads and road reserves.