The Engineers Board of Kenya (EBK) has urged tuktuk drivers and bodaboda riders to be keen on the road in order to avoid road crashes that have led to the death of thousands of Kenyans leaving others nursing life-threatening injuries.

EBK registrar and chief executive officer Eng. Margaret Ogai said most crashes witnessed on the roads are attributed to human behavior, a thing she said can be changed if all motorists are keen and obey all traffic rules.

Ogai was speaking in Mombasa during a sensitization meeting and training for tuktuk drivers and bodaboda riders drawn from Kisauni constituency.

The event was held at the Shimo La Tewa Primary School as part of the series of events to mark the world day of remembrance for road traffic victims.

“We recognize the important work that tuktuk drivers and bodaboda riders do in the transport industry. That is why we are here to train them on the need to be keen on the road to ensure that they observe safety of the roads,”

“As a country, we have over 4000 road crash victims recorded annually, this needs to be reduced,” said Ogai.

The World day of remembrance for road traffic victims is commemorated on the third Sunday of November every year.

It is a global event to remember the many millions who have been killed and seriously injured on the world’s roads and to acknowledge the suffering of all affected victims, families and communities.

About 1.2 million people lose their lives to road carnage across the world with millions others left with life-threatening injuries.

As of June 2023, the death toll from road carnage stood above 2,100 as experts decried an increase in the figures since 2021.

"It is unfortunate that deaths are going up. We need to obey traffic laws because it is evident that human behavior takes presence in most of the crashes we see,” Ogai said.

She admitted that there were some crashes attributed to poor road design, but these she said were very minimal adding that human behavior still played a bigger part even in the event of road design.

"We are not refusing there are crashes caused by road design, but majority are human error. I urge Kenyans take a stand and not allow drivers of public vehicles to speed or drive while drunk,” she said.

Benard Kaka, the Kisauni branch chairman of the Mombasa tuktuk association said that the training was of important to them as more tuktuk and bodaboda operators continue to lose their lives.

In Kisauni alone, about 14 operators have lost their lives since the beginning of the year.

"We have gained a lot concerning road safety from this training and together with our members, we promise to follow the set laws,” said Kaka.

Kaka said that with the ongoing construction and expansion of the Mombasa-Malindi Road, they continue facing challenges of traffic snarl-ups even as he promised that his members will not be overlapping.

The sector he said was also facing security challenges owing t the fact that there were some criminal elements working in cahoots with some opoperators.

"We have a few involved in crime coordinated activities, but we shall ensure we weed them out to ensure our sector is clean. We shall be working with security officers to weed out all criminal elements endangering our members,” Kaka said.

Chiti Mohammed, a tuktuk driver in Kisauni said that female drivers continue facing insecurity challenges from male clients as she called on security operators to ensure their safety.

"Sometimes I carry male passengers and once they get to their destination, they refuse to pay. As a woman, I can’t fight them so they go with the money,” she said.

Halifa Mwatsau the chairman Mombasa bodaboda operators also urged his members to be cautious on the road.

The challenge they he said is that a number of riders are operating without licenses, a situation he said has been occasioned by young men who have just completed school joining the business to irk a living.

"Because schools have closed, some young men who have motorbikes in their homes have joined the business. They don’t have licenses and don’t understand traffic rules thus endangering themselves on the road,’

“But we are working to ensure that we don’t have underage riders on the road and that all of our registered members have licenses,” said Mwatsau.