In an attempt to stem the rising cases of road accidents in the country, KCA University has collaborated with Germany’s Technical University of Dortmund to launch the Center for Road Safety Awareness and Traffic Injury Surveillance. The center, the first of its kind in the nation, will see extensive and innovative research done to help avert road accidents. The findings will help craft policies and enhance revamping the road transport system to realize zero fatalities and accidents.
Rationale and Public Interest
The prime responsibility for initiating the center will be to establish the leading causes of road accidents and design a roadmap to avert such accidents. The evidence from the research would be shared to improve policy and road safety by road agencies. More so, the venture is pretty ambitious following the recent statistics released by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), noting that more than 7100 Kenyans have been hit by road accidents since the beginning of this year, leading to over 1000 fatalities and several injuries.
The Role Played by Technische Universität Dortmund
The Vice Chancellor of KCA University Prof. Isaiah Wakindiki was quick to salute the role played by Germany’s Technical University of Dortmund in the formation of the center. The center will become functional at the end of this year’s calendar. Prof. Wakindiki insists that the institution is committed to ending the aberration.
” We have been losing at least a student to a road accident every year, partly because we are located along the Superhighway. From January to date, we have already lost a student. This is something we cannot allow to continue,” said Prof. Wakindiki.
Analysis of Data with Road Agencies
The centre will be in direct follow-up and collaboration with lead agencies managing the road with prompt data collection and analysis in conjunction with NTSA and the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA). Such operation will enable coming up with expounded more clear data of the occurrences, therefore well-designed mechanisms to interventions.
The road safety data according to the NTSA shows a death toll figure of 436 pedestrians and 276 motorcyclists having been killed on roads in 2024. Formation of the research center at KCA University is a bold step towards seeing these figures reduced due to more defined research and policy formulation.
Preparation and Training
In this respect, KCA University is prepared to take on its role by carrying out staff training on aspects of data collection and analysis as they collaborate with well-known German established institutions on scientific research. Since Christmas last year, one of the faculty is in Germany on a three-month scientific visit to come back with preliminary pieces of training and setting up of the centre.
Resource Mobilization
According to Prof Wakindiki, the university is already in line with various stakeholders in the process of mobilizing resources to set up the centre. This is to make a channel into their accounts, secure modes of funding, and technical support in making the centre live and deliver quality and quantity as per its mandate of improving road safety through quality and quantity research and innovation.