Kenya

Country Summary

When the Global Road Safety Partnership  - through the Bloomberg Philanthropies sponsored project, Road Safety in 10 Countries (RS-10) - went to Nairobi for the first time to run a workshop in December 2010, they discovered more than just a bustling metropolitan city. Together with the support of the Kenya Red Cross Society, some of the key obstacles to road safety in Kenya were quickly exposed.

For example, fines for speeding and not wearing a helmet are financially insignificant - less than 1 USD. Similarly, a motorcycle act passed in 2009 was never adopted or printed, so magistrates and courts are not obliged to follow it, making enforcement a point of frustration for traffic police. However addressing these challenges is far from impossible with the partnership of the Kenya Red Cross Society. The RS-10 team quickly discovered one of the key strengths to addressing road safety is the Red Cross access to local communities, and their well-established reputation.

During various road safety activities in 2011 including a workshop focused on social marketing, and risk factor sensitization workshops in the districts Naivasha and Thika, the Kenya Red Cross was central in bringing together Kenyan road safety stakeholders, including participants from the Ministries of Health, Transport, Public Health, as well as surgeons, non-governmental organisations and traffic police.  Together, the RS-10 team and the Kenya Red Cross worked to strengthen knowledge on speeding and helmet wearing, and the power of using public education campaigns to inform the wider public.

With the continued collaboration of the Kenya Red Cross Society and RS-10, more activities are planned for 2012 in order to continue addressing risky road behaviour, and build on current progress to create a stronger culture of road safety in the Kenya.