Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen on Monday regretted that Kenya loses Ksh450 billion annually through road accidents.

The CS who spoke during an interview on Citizen TV stated that the country lost 5 per cent of its GDP to road carnage which he majorly attributed to careless driving.

According to the CS, the most vulnerable group to accidents were motorcyclists followed by pedestrians, but these were not being reported extensively, unlike highway accidents.

While unpacking the statistics, the CS noted that motorcyclists accounted for 38 per cent of the accidents while pedestrians accounted for 35 per cent of the carnage.

Murkomen noted the government was also spending huge amounts of money to cater for the treatment of those who sustain injuries as a result of road accidents.

The CS noted the country loses about 4,000 people annually while 20,000 sustain injuries from road accidents every year. According to Murkomen, that is about 12 people per day, something the CS noted was scary for the economy.

“We are talking about just 4,500 people dying but also add 20,000 that get serious injuries and these injuries cost the country a huge amount of money in the medical sector. That is why we lose Ksh450 billion every year which is about 5% per cent of GDP as a result of road accidents,” the CS noted.

"Of all these, drivers are 9 per cent of the people who die and then the cyclists of bicycles are about 2 per cent. These statistics combined paint a bad picture of the country," Murkomen added.

Passengers were blamed as being major contributors to road accidents as they failed to point out drivers who flouted traffic regulations. 

"I wish the Kenyan people the way they are quick to point fingers at the government, I wish that amount of outrage could be directed to drunk drivers, speeding and overlapping drivers."

According to Murkomen, Nairobi contributed to most accidents in the country at 32 per cent with a huge chunk of the pedestrians who die in road accidents losing their lives in the capital.

"Most of the pedestrians that are killed are killed in Nairobi City, we are going to install the Intelligence Transport System which has cameras indicating overlapping, and violating traffic lights, all these offences will be fined instantly," Murkomen stated.