First Month of Accidents Mapped!

For one month, we have now been campaigning to increase reporting of accidents and especially reporting of accidents with enough location information to be able to map the accidents, and your participation has paid off!

Below, find a heatmap of all accident reports since starting the campaign on March 12:

Accident Map First Month

The red spots indicate higher levels of accidents. Some observations are not surprising, such as the high number of accidents along Thika Road and Mombasa Road. When a similar campaign was conducted 3 years ago, it similarly found a large number of accidents along these two roads. We are finding additional hotspots though, and the more you report, the more we can find the areas around Nairobi where the most can be done to reduce accidents and improve road safety. The campaign is ongoing, so continue to report accidents that you see, providing landmarks and street intersections so we can map them, and you enter a chance to win 100KES daily and help to reduce accidents in Nairobi!

Additionally, in the graph below we see that some days, more accidents happen and are reported:

Accidents on different days

Sundays consistently have the lowest number of accident reports, while more accidents tend to be reported on Thursdays or Fridays. We can also see the timing of accident reports during the day:

Peak Time for Accidents

 

The morning rush hour seems to be the prime time when accidents are reported, especially between 6am and 8am. We see an evening peak of accident reporting as well, but it is more spread out between 16pm and 20pm. Everyone, make sure to take extra care during these hours!

The more you report accidents, the more information we will have so we can then improve road safety by targeting the hotspots of accidents and the days and times when accidents happen the most.

Together we can achieve #saferroadsKE!

Help Ma3Route Map (and Reduce) Traffic Accidents

Every year, up to 12,000 people die from road accidents in Kenya, making Kenya one of the deadliest countries in terms of road fatalities. Ma3Route believes these numbers are too high; however, to do something about accidents, we need information on where they occur.

DO YOU WANT TO HELP SAVE LIVES?

Beginning this month, Ma3Route is implementing an initiative to determine where traffic accidents occur in Nairobi. Using users’ posts to Ma3Route, we will develop a real-time map that shows accident locations and highlights accident-prone areas. But to map accidents in Nairobi, we need your help.   

Report Accidents and Have the Chance to Win 100 KES DAILY

Beginning March 12, 2018, Ma3Route is running a program to encourage people to report accidents whenever they see one. As a reward, EACH DAY Ma3Route will GIVE AWAY 100 KES to four people that reported an accident during the previous day. The winners will be drawn at random – so report regularly!

TO WIN: If you SEE an accident TWEET at Ma3Route! PROVIDE UNIQUE LANDMARKS that are near the accident so that it is possible to map where the accident occurred. To be entered to win, it must be possible for us to identify the location of the accident. Don’t forget to use #accident and #saferroadsKE

 

Example Landmarks: STREET INTERSECTIONS, STORE NAMES, MATATU STAGES, SCHOOLS

Example Tweets

Why the Initiative Now?

Back in 2015, Ma3Route conducted a similar initiative to encourage Ma3Map users to post about accidents to develop accident maps. The program worked well, but now we’re trying to push the idea further. Using accident location information, we will determine the locations of accident hotspots then—in collaboration with other agencies—implement a series of programs to try to reduce accidents in these areas. In this way, YOUR TWEETS HAVE IMPACT and CAN SAVE LIVES!

In short, we have two main goals: 1) help citizens become aware of particularly accident-prone areas in Nairobi and 2) determine which programs can help reduce accidents.

With your help, we can make Nairobi a safer place!

Accidents in Nairobi in 2015

Accident in Nairobi 2015

Accident heat-map during 2015 mapping initiative. Moving forward, we are developing an interactive map that will be updated in real-time.

Making Roads Safer with Ma3Route and DDD

Sometimes small changes can have a big impact.
The Zusha! sticker intervention is a perfect example.

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Zusha! is a road safety project by the Georgetown University Initiative on Innovation, Development and Evaluation, funded by USAID and implemented locally by DDD Kenya, a Nairobi-based business process outsourcing provider.

Zusha! partnered with Ma3Route to test if access to a digital reporting platform would lead to a reduction in accident rates.

Ma3Route logo was placed on half of the stickers distributed, prompting passengers to report on Ma3Route real-time web and mobile platforms.

Capture d’écran 2016-03-15 à 2.23.33 PM.png

Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death among children and young adults in Sub-Saharan Africa. Every day, people die on the road, and many of those deaths occur in matatus. Zusha! aims to empower matatu passengers to demand and receive better service.

To achieve this goal, stickers (see above) that encourage passengers to speak up when their drivers are driving recklessly are placed inside matatus and buses.

Zusha! was publically launched in May 2015 under the auspices of its local partners, the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) and the National Road Safety Trust (NRST).

To date, the campaign has successfully distributed stickers to 22,000 public service vehicles throughout the country. There has also been complementary messaging through television advertisements, radio advertisements, billboards, and digital media.

And it worked! After the intervention, the number of total accidents dropped by 30%. Georgetown researchers were able to measure the accident reduction using insurance claim data from Directline Assurance. Based on the success in Kenya,

Zusha! is now expanding pilot studies into Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda.

Learn more about Zusha! in this working paper, the Zusha! website—and don’t forget to speak up!

About the author

Christina Gossmann is Acting Director of Marketing and Communications at DDD. DDD delivers high- quality, competitively priced business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions to clients worldwide.  At the same time, DDD’s innovative social model enables talent from underserved populations to access professional opportunities and earn lasting higher income. Learn more at DDD.

Accidents Involving Students & School Buses

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A school bus rolled because its breaks failed. via @TheStarKenya

It is painful to hear about accidents involving students. You would hope that drivers take more care when they see that the vehicle next to them is full of children. And yet, these accidents happen too often. From May 1 through October 12 a total of 44 accidents were reported on Ma3Route involving students or school vehicles. Twelve of these accidents had reported fatalities. 

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Nana Gichuru’s Tragic Death Brings Attention to Eastern Bypass Black Spots

On September 22, Nana Gichuru died in a gruesome accident on the Eastern Bypass when she tried to pass several vehicles and hit a truck in a head-on collision (according to media reports).

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A photo of Nana’s car crushed under the front of the truck. via @kazungubrianG

Unfortunately, this was not the only accident on the Eastern Bypass that day or that week; two more accidents were reported the same day and another one a few days later.

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Last Week in Photos: Sept 7 – 13

Most of these photos show minor accidents – with some damage to vehicles but hopefully very little to the drivers and passengers. But you might notice that EVERY ONE is blocking the flow of traffic. So let these photos be a reminder that even minor accidents cause problems for road users – and not just those directly involved in the accident!

MONDAY

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An accident on Enterprise Road. via @kenyanspider

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What To Do After an Accident

By: Caleb Chuma

Photo by: http://alexcare.com/
Photo by: http://alexcare.com/

It’s not something anyone wants to be involved in or can anticipate, but car accidents do happen and are occurring quite frequently these days. The high number of accidents has raised alarm with Kenyan road authorities; in May 2015 alone, 575 unique accidents were reported through our #AccidentsKE project.

Accidents reported in the Month of May from the @Ma3Route #AccidentsKE project
Accidents reported in the Month of May from the @Ma3Route #AccidentsKE project

However, many people do not know what to do when they are involved in a car accident. In the unfortunate instance that you find yourself in a road accident, follow the following steps:

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