In collaboration with Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS), the Ministry of Transport in the county government in Mombasa organized a two-day training session for journalists on road safety. The workshop aimed to educate journalists on the significance of road safety as a public health concern, the relevance of risk factors, and how to report from a system perspective while gathering appropriate data. The training also covered the causes and repercussions of road crashes, the safe system approach, and the media’s role in advocating for road safety.
Speaking during the training, Mombasa transport CEC Hon. Daniel Manyala commended the Bloomberg philanthropies initiative for considering Mombasa city to be among the 27 cities globally that will benefit from the third phase of the initiative.
“We are fully dedicated to improving road safety in the city of Mombasa, and we are proud to collaborate with Bloomberg Philanthropies and other partners in this effort. Together, we will develop a comprehensive transportation master plan that will guide our efforts to promote road safety through various means, including the development of cycling and pedestrian networks, designated bike routes, car-free events, complete street designs, open and living streets, road diets, and safe routes to schools in the form of school zones. Our goal is to ensure that all aspects of road safety are addressed and to create a safer environment for everyone in the city,” said Honorable Manyala.
Hon Manyala further reiterated that as a county, they were committed to promoting road safety within the county to reduce road carnage by 50% by the year 2025.
Mr. Samuel Musumba, the Programs Director at the National Transport and Safety Authority, stated that road crashes in Kenya result in up to 4,000 deaths annually, with about 40% of the victims being pedestrians. These incidents also have a significant economic impact, costing around 3-5% of the GDP or Kshs300 billion per year. Additionally, road crashes are the leading cause of disability, health burden, and poverty in the country, often resulting in the loss of able breadwinners.”
“As a nation, we must take responsibility for promoting road safety and refrain from placing blame on any one party. It is imperative that we come together as a collective and take action to put an end to road crash fatalities on our roads.” Mr. Musumba added.
According to Kevin Ismael, the communications coordinator for BIGRS, the Journalist workshop held in Mombasa was a unique initiative aimed at enhancing comprehensive reporting on road safety. The objective was to promote effective solutions that can generate media coverage and raise awareness of road safety as a critical public health concern.
Mr. Kevin emphasized that the media has a crucial role to play in promoting behavioral change, and expressed confidence that providing such training opportunities for the journalists would enable them to influence the discussion and perception of road safety in both Mombasa city and the wider county.
The Journalist training is part of the ongoing partnership between the county government of Mombasa and the Bloomberg initiative for global road safety that provides Mombasa County I with technical support from international experts within the BIGRS consortium to enhance their systems of promoting road safety, data collection and analysis, and develop new systems as needed for planning, monitoring, and evaluation. BIGRS will progressively monitor the progress and evaluate the impact of the initiative on key metrics, including crashes, crash-related non-fatal injuries, and crash-related fatalities.