GLOBAL ROAD SAFETY PARTNERSHIP- 3rd AFRICA ROAD SAFETY SEMINAR, CAPE TOWN An overview of scholar transport policies in Kenya: current status and future directions. Gordon Otieno Odundo Chief Executive Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital
Jun 22, 2015
GLOBAL ROAD SAFETY PARTNERSHIP- 3rd AFRICA ROAD SAFETY SEMINAR, CAPE TOWN
An overview of scholar transport policies in Kenya: current status and future directions.
Gordon Otieno OdundoChief Executive
Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital
Presentation Content
Present an overview of school transport policies in Kenya: current status and future
directions
The country has a young population, with 73% of residents aged below 30 years because of rapid population growth from 2.9 million to 44 million inhabitants over the last century. 1.5 million children are born each year
Hospital Entrance
Centres of Excellence
Our Network
Where it started
School transport Are our children safe?
Why the advocacy
As a society, we have always treated children as small versions of adults and therefore exposed them to risks
related to crashes
Children have a limitation to size, vision, hearing and attention which impairs their judgment to risks and their consequent response therefore
exposing them
The responsibility of guaranteeing the safety of our children on the roads has been left to the children
Serious injuries suffered in a road accident can have an impact on a child for the rest of their
life
• They can affect physical and cognitive abilities, as well as psychological wellbeing.
• The child may have to spend a significant amount of time in hospital and require long-term treatment as an outpatient.
• Their physical abilities after the accident may be altered, for example if they have sustained a spinal injury or lost limbs or sight.
• Head injuries can result in changes to cognitive abilities and personality
School transport system in Kenya has largely remained unregulated; this has led to the school transport
vehicles a preserve of old public service vehicles and the enforcers helpless on how to respond
In the events of crashes, only drivers are blamed while school administrations could have prevented the occurrences
Background Information about the Transport Sector in Kenya:
The current legislation, Traffic Act CAP 403, does not address aspects of child
road safety
The Traffic (Amendment) Bill, 2014 seeks to amend section 42 of CAP 403
Also, it seeks to insert a new section 105B of CAP 403, so as to introduce
child safety in motor vehicles
The proposed changes to the law are needed urgently to protect Kenyan children from being killed or injured on their way to and from school
Regulation of school transport system
Under the Bill, all school vehicles must comply with set safety standards, as well as being fitted with safety equipment suitable for children
Vehicles transporting children will also be painted yellow to alert other road users
Reduction of speed around schools
Vehicle Calming
Statutory penalties for enforcing speed
• The Bill also sets penalties for drivers exceeding the speed limits.
• These will range from Kshs 10,000 to Kshs 25,000.
Timeline of Activities
The Traffic (Amendment) Bill, 2014 is at the stage of the first reading in the
Kenya National Assembly.
Conclusion
By Kenya enacting the new law as well as enforcing it savings would accrue
due to the reduced cost of treatment ,less wages lost by family
members attending to injured children ,lives saved , the reduced
social burden and thus a significant positive impact on the economy