The 2024 year seems to have started on a sour note for road users.

Statistics from the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) are quite chilling. Horrifying in the sense that between January 1 and 7, at least 84 innocent souls have departed this lavish earth through a road accident.

Hundreds of others are admitted in various hospitals across the country with varying injuries, some of whom may suffer permanent disabilities.

This sharp increase in the road carnage with higher fatalities is a matter of grave concern that should be nipped in the bud by the authorities.

From previous reports from NTSA, National Police Service (NPS) and other various government agencies, road carnage has always been attributed to preventable and predictable factors such as non-usage of seat belts by commuters, driver behavior such as speeding leading to loss of control in high occupancy vehicles and poor mechanical conditions of vehicles resulting in brake failures and tyre bursts.

Apparently, previous efforts by the government to control road carnage seem to have failed flat and each year continues to register higher statistics of fatalities and injuries.

In 2023 alone, NTSA says 3,609 people lost their lives in road accidents between the months of January to October compared to 3,936 the previous year.

The latest accident involved a matatu and a bus on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway that claimed all the 15 occupants of the matatu with scores of passengers travelling in the bus escaping with serious injuries. According to eyewitnesses, the driver of the matatu belonging to Northways Sacco was speeding while overtaking when the accident occurred.

There are a number of known causes of these accidents. But instead of drivers and transport firms acknowledging responsibility and seeking ways to improve on the situation, they have always resorted to blame games which do not help.

Most of these accidents, like the Tuesday morning one along the Nakuru-Eldoret hughway, are all non-natural occurrences which could have been avoided in the first place. Anybody who stayed in Kenya just for a day, will quickly note how reckless most motorists and pedestrians are.

One cannot expect drivers that defy traffic rules in the city, and to some extent, police signals to stop, to respect rules while on the highways.