The UN has declared the second Global Road Safety Week from 6th May to 12th May, 2013. The Second Global Road Safety Week was dedicated to pedestrian safety. The week drew attention to the urgent need to better protect pedestrians worldwide. Speeding, drink driving, distracted driving by drivers and lack of obeying the law by pedestrians are some of the causes of the high fatality rates among pedestrian related crashes. In Kenya close to 50% of those that are killed on our roads are pedestrians.
To mark this week, ASIRT-Kenya joined the rest of the world by launching a visibility project for school children at Kasarani Primary school on 9th May, 2013 .Our interaction with schools in our daily work has proved that many children walk to and from school and are exposed to the dangers of dangerous driving common in Kenya. The main objective of this project is to reduce road injury and death rates among school children. We shall duplicate this in other schools.
The Long Short walk
The Long Short Walk is part of the Zenani Mandela Campaign. In support of UN Global Road Safety Week, The Long Short Walk aims to brought together people and groups from around the world to call for action to protect pedestrians. This involves committing oneself to ensure pedestrian safety by signing on a designed poster and walking on a stretch of a road.
ASIRT-Kenya participated in the Long Short Walk along Mombasa road on the 7th of May, 2013. They were joined by UNEP, Sameer Africa, Road Safety NGOs, school children and members of the public. The police closed off one lane on the busy Mombasa road to ensure that the walk was safe.
