Project Lead(s): Pamela Muthuuri
Issue
Road accidents are the world’s most common cause of injury-related fatalities in the developing world, with Kenya being among those countries with the biggest problem.
The waiver of import tax on motorcycles has led to an increase in the use of motorcycles to ferry passengers, called ‘bodaboda’.
This has led to an unprecedented increase in RTC (road traffic collisions) in Kenya.
Most of the accidents are due to untrained riders; accidents can result in severe head injuries, due the lack of helmets and poorly trained first responders.
Solution
Implemented in Bungoma County in Kenya, the ‘Reward N Conquer’ project aimed at reducing death rates and traumatic brain injuries stemming from motorcycle accidents by addressing road safety knowledge gaps among local motorcycle taxi riders.
An interactive phone app with games was developed as a fun and easy reminder for motorcyclists to stay safe.
The app ‘BodaRush’ is transferable to any developing country.
The project also worked through the Kenya Red Cross, Bungoma Networks, to improve emergency first response at the scene of accidents.
Outcome
The project was able to reduce accidents resulting in deaths or serious injury, and attributable to motorcycle accidents in Bungoma County, by 40 % through the ‘Reward N Conquer’ model.
With 10,000 motorcyclists having downloaded the ‘BodaRush’ app, it could be argued that 31,272 passengers had their lives improved by being ferried by these riders with now-improved skills.
A further 2,000 people were trained in accident scene first response.
The project also influenced members of the Bungoma County legislature, traffic police and Kenya Red Cross officials and, as a result of this work, the county government introduced legislation to make it mandatory for motorcycle taxi riders to undergo motorcycle-specific training in order to get licenses.
The Kenya Red Cross – a major stakeholder when it comes to road traffic accidents – has stated that it will consider including the project’s training curriculum, including the mobile phone app, in their programs.
Given the interest generated in the pilot phase, the project team intends to scale up activities to 10 other counties in Kenya. There is also an interested partner in Tanzania.