A section of Kenyans petitioned the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to enact a law mandating all trucks to have underride guards.
The underride guards, commonly known as Mansfield bars, are a mandatory design in most developed nations and Kenyans now want the government to adopt them.
Mansfield bars connect the left and right sides of a truck's suspension system and apart from being used as a safety feature in cases of rear-end collision, they also help distribute weight evenly across both sides of the vehicle reducing the likelihood of a rollover.
They are crucial in reducing fatal road accidents because they prevent cars from sliding underneath the lorry in the event of a rear-end collision.
Some accidents, which could have been minor, turn fatal when a car slides underneath a lorry resulting in a severe crash, at times claiming lives or leaving victims nursing major injuries.
What are Mansfield Bars
By default, lorries do not have a bumper and since they are usually higher off the ground than cars, there is nothing to absorb the impact in case of rear-end collision.
When a car hits a truck in the rear, the impact is mostly felt on the windscreen, hence endangering the driver and front passenger since most trailers are 48 inches above the ground while most cars are 20 inches off the ground.
In such a scenario, the car slides under the truck, shearing off the top of the vehicle, causing fatal head injuries.
“If we make Mansfield bars mandatory in Kenya as it is in the US, then accidents will be less severe,” stated George Ndicu, a complainant.
Despite witnessing many road accidents in the country, Robert Muriithi regretted that NTSA was yet to implement such a lifesaver.
“Unless it is a convertible, no vehicle can survive after hitting a truck’s rear end, especially on the corner.
“NTSA has completely refused to implement such a simple under-ride protection as a requirement for all trucks,” he lamented.
NTSA estimates that more than 1,600 people have lost their lives in just six months from January 2023 as a result of road accidents.
Of the 1,600 recorded fatalities, 98 were drivers, a figure that can go lower with the introduction of Mansfield bars.
