Some of the horrendous road traffic crashes caused by buses occur due to unsafe vehicles and unsafe driving. These factors are largely predictable and preventable.
Using unsafe vehicles, driving carelessly or engaging in other unsafe driving behaviour (such as driving for long periods or taking insufficient rest or break periods) increases the likelihood of a crash that leads to catastrophic consequences for drivers, passengers, operators and other road users.
It is important to make sure that buses are loaded properly and that the driver and all other staff involved in the loading of vehicles are fully trained. Beyond the law enforcers, fleet managers and owners have a duty to do.
Are Kenyan bus drivers more prone to errors?
Kenya is known for many good things including scenery, safaris, legendary hospitality and athletics prowess. However, in recent research by the Overseas Development Institute entitled The Politics of Road Safety in Nairobi, it was highlighted that road safety has always been treated as a technical issue but there is more to it. In this blog, I would like to focus on the culture of road usage as a possible accelerator to road crashes in Kenya.
Culture
I must start by pointing out that unsafe driving practices and road safety are not ‘cultural’ issues as such, but I use the word because the horrendous bus crashes indicate an acquired behaviour of carelessness. Again, our way of life, which borders on community living, can make it difficult to be quantitative in our thinking.
On numerous occasions, I have been on a crowded public service vehicle where people, be it the bus driver, conductor or the passengers, have seen someone else trying to get on and said “create a space/push for him/her, we are all brothers and sisters”— oblivious to the risks that overloading poses. In most of the crashes the bus is almost always overloaded. The buses plying the western circuit of the country are also known to carry large loads on their top carriers.
Excess and insecure loads are an obvious danger to the stability of buses and a danger to road safety. Every load carried should be of such weight and size and so distributed, packed, adjusted and attached to the vehicle in such a way that there is no interference with its stability.
It is important to make sure that buses are loaded properly and that the driver and all other staff involved in the loading of vehicles are fully trained. Beyond the law enforcers, fleet managers and owners have a duty to do.
The role of management/owners in safe bus operation
The risks associated with certain driver and driving activities can only be reduced with a commitment to appropriate safety control systems. Whether the bus operator is a one-person owner or a large fleet owner, he/she:
- is responsible for the safety of the bus crew and passengers;
- selects, trains, supervises, disciplines and compensates drivers; decides on equipment purchases and maintenance; and sets the entire safety attitude of the business through formal policies and how it enforces them;
- is responsible for reinforcing work ethics; and
- ensures the crew adheres to traffic rules and laws.
Real change would come from rethinking, re-crafting and reinforcing a proper purpose for all organisations involved in road safety.
Lucas Munene
Founder, team leader, Pamoja Road Safety Initiative www.pamojaroadsafety.org
Lucas Munene is the founder of Pamoja Road Safety Initiative (www.pamojaroadsafety.org) in Kenya. He has a certificate in Road Traffic Injury Prevention and Control in Low and Middle-Income Countries from John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health (2013), and is a Global Alliance of NGOs Advocate. Lucas has also won the Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI) Road Safety award.
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