Bamburi Cement and its partners in Road Safety and Transport arena today launched this year’s national road safety campaign dubbed ‘Barabara yangu, barabara yetu’ aimed at reducing road accidents over the festive season.
The ‘Barabara yangu, barabara yetu’ campaign will see over 4,500 boda boda operators and road users trained on good road safety practices and defensive driving. In addition, the Company with its Transporter partners, during this campaign, a driver sight testing for all transporter drivers, will be launched and incorporated into the existing Transporter Safety Program.
Bamburi Cement and its partners in Road Safety and Transport arena today launched this year’s national road safety campaign dubbed ‘Barabara yangu, barabara yetu’ aimed at reducing road accidents over the festive season.
The ‘Barabara yangu, barabara yetu’ campaign will see over 4,500 boda boda operators and road users trained on good road safety practices and defensive driving. In addition, the Company with its Transporter partners, during this campaign, a driver sight testing for all transporter drivers, will be launched and incorporated into the existing Transporter Safety Program.
Bamburi has for the last eight years conducted annual road safety awareness campaigns just before the festive season, a period traditionally associated with high incidence of accidents on Kenyan roads. Last year’s campaign, under the theme ‘Jitunze Uishi’, saw the safety caravan traverse from Athi River to Malaba Border point, stopping at designated points along the corridor sensitizing truck drivers, pedestrians, boda-boda operators and other road users on road safety.
Globally, 1.2 million people die every year with 50 million getting injured. In Africa, 24 out of 100,000 people die annually from road accidents, one and half time the global average. And in Kenya according to Government figures, in 2014 about 2,907 lives are lost annually through road accidents, with this year the figure stands at 2,614 as at 16th November 2015.
Speaking during launch and flagging off ceremony held at the company’s Nairobi Grinding Plant, Kajiado County Governor Dr. David Nkedianye said that although efforts have been made to address the issue of road safety, there is still a lot to be done. He further said road safety is the responsibility of all Kenyans.
“We recognize that road safety is an issue of utmost national concern. To complement the Government’s efforts, we have made it a point to continue to share our experiences and knowledge in safety with Kenyans especially communities next to our sites and along the corridors where our raw materials and finished products are transported,” said Bamburi Cement Kenya Managing Director Bruno Pescheux.
“We do acknowledge that even with these measures, incidents do take place, but with a reduced frequency and severity. However, we must redouble our efforts and consolidate gains made so far in the fight against road accidents,” stated Mr Pescheux.
The caravan will again this year traverse from Athi River to Malaba Border Point with stops at Mai Mau, Salgaa, Eldoret-Maili Tisa, TurboKip Karena and the Lwandeti-Kaburengu-Bungoma Junction