‘Slow Down, Speed Kills’ campaign launched in Kenya

The importance of a coordinated approach to road safety is well documented; indeed through the GRSP website and social media we have recently highlighted the importance of aligning efforts to save lives. Perhaps nowhere is this better illustrated than through the work of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Road Safety Programme.

Since 2011 in Kenya, through coordinated road safety advocacy initiatives, intensified and improved enforcement of speed laws and powerful awareness campaigns, the programme has brought about a measurable improvement in speed law compliance in the target sites:

• In Thika (pop. 560,000), speed law compliance has improved from 42% (June 2011) to 71% (June 2013);
• In Naivasha (pop. 189,000), speed law compliance has improved from 50% (June 2011) to 77% (June 2013).

In line with the programme’s highly coordinated approach, October saw GRSP conduct a series of Speed Enforcement Workshops with the local traffic police ahead of yesterday’s launch by the World Health Organization and Ministries of Health and Transport of the latest social marketing campaign on the risks of speeding, ‘Slow Down, Speed Kills’.The campaign, which includes radio and ambient advertising, aims to raise awareness among motorists of the risks and potential consequences of speeding. ‘People need to know that speeding has consequences for all – the driver, passengers, pedestrians and motorcyclists. People’s lives are in the hands of drivers. We cannot afford to lose our people to this preventable problem and that’s why we want to warn our citizens to Slow Down, Speed Kills.’ said the Honourable Principal Secretary for Health Prof. Fred H.K Segor.

The campaign is running nationally, and together with heightened enforcement measures, aims to further improve speed compliance, and with it, reduce traffic crash deaths and injuries on Kenya’s roads.

View the Bloomberg Philanthropies infographic on speed campaigns in Kenya.

Listen to and view the ‘Slow Down, Speed Kills’ campaign materials on the WHO website.

Read more on the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Road Safety Programme.