Traffic management and road safety in Kisumu County, South Western Kenya

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Date
2019-11
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kampala International University, College of Humanities and social sciences.
Abstract
Road safety in Kisumu County has been problematic especially in rural areas despite the existence of a potentially enabling road safety policy mirrored in Kenya’s Integrated National Transport Policy. Aware of the relevance of road traffic management as a conduit of policy implementation, this study sought to investigate and explain road safety concerns, which in Kenya had attracted a lot of public opinion as well as scholarly debate. The purpose of this study was therefore to examine the influence of road traffic management on road safety in Kisumu County, South Western Kenya. The study specifically focused on examining the influence of traffic information, the effect of driver support and the significance of traffic control on road safety in the county. The study adopted an exploratory and descriptive correlational research design based on the quantitative and qualitative approach. The target population of study was 1919 people categorised in different subgroups. A sample of 365 respondents was selected using purposive and stratified random sampling strategies. Questionnaire, Interview Guide, and Focus Group Discussion guide were used for data collection. Data was analysed using quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative analysis included descriptive tools as well as inferential statistics of Pearson’s correlations co-efficiency and multiple linear regression. The study findings indicate that road safety was generally low in rural Kisumu and relatively high in urban Kisumu. The findings further show that such levels of road safety were attributed to discrepancies in traffic information, driver support and traffic control that varied between the two areas in the county. Particularly, traffic information was inadequate in most of rural Kisumu and fairly sufficient in urban Kisumu, respectively. Driver support was less sufficient in most rural areas and fairly sufficient in urban areas. Road traffic control was less effective in rural areas and fairly effective in urban areas of the county. According to findings, traffic information predicted 40.3% of road safety in rural Kisumu and 41.3% in urban Kisumu. Driver support predicted 41.7% of road safety in rural Kisumu and 44.9% in urban Kisumu. Traffic control predicted 50.8% of road safety in rural Kisumu and 56.2% in urban Kisumu. It was generally found out that Traffic Management in rural areas predicted 50.5% and in urban areas it predicted 56.7% of Road Safety, respectively. It was therefore recommended that Kenya’s State Departments for Transport and Infrastructure, Kisumu County Government, and the private sector should improve on road signages, enhance sensitization on road safety, improve quality of driving schools, promote use of intelligent vehicle safety gargets, consistently maintain roads, phase out vehicles in dangerous mechanical conditions, designate enough road sideways for fragile road users and empower relevant state agencies to fight corruption in the roads transport sector.
Description
A dissertation submitted to the directorate of higher degrees and research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of a doctor of philosophy in management science (Public Administration and Management) of Kampala International University
Keywords
Traffic management, Road safety, Kisumu County, , South Western Kenya
Citation