In Summary
The National Transport and Safety Authority was on the spot
again on Sunday after 36 people perished in yet another dawn road
accident at Migaa along the Nakuru–Eldoret highway.
The
beleaguered state agency has been on the spot for making knee-jerk
reactions every time a major accident is reported on Kenyan roads, and
it didn’t disappoint, this time banning passenger bus night travel with
immediate effect.
Thousands of
travellers, majority of whom had travelled upcountry for holiday
festivities, will be left stranded by this directive, and it could take a
while before the chaos in the public transport sector die down.
Sunday's
horror crash brought to nearly 200 the number of people killed on
Kenyan roads in the month of December alone. More than 150 people died
in road crashes within the first three weeks of the month, figures from
the NTSA show, with nearly half of them perishing on the killer stretch
between Nakuru and Sachang’wan.
And,
to illustrate the danger on Kenyan roads this festive season, Sunday’s
accident brought to at least 76 the number of people killed on this
stretch in the last week of the month alone.
DRIVEN RECKLESSLY
Senior police officers at the scene said
the ill-fated bus, on the way to Nairobi from Busia, had worn out
tyres and was driven recklessly as it hurtled down the dangerous stretch
towards Nakuru.
These claims
were corroborated by some of the passengers who survived the tragic
accident. One of them told this newspaper that the bus had “wobbled”
down the steep descent moments before the crash. It had been flagged
down by traffic officers a few minutes earlier but waved on, another
passenger said.
Among the dead
were the driver of the truck and his loader, who were heading towards
Eldoret. Thirty passengers from the bus were confirmed dead at the
scene, while another four succumbed to injuries while receiving
treatment at the Nakuru Level Five Hospital. Among the four were three
children aged two months, two years and 10 years, and one adult aged 35.
Rift
Valley traffic enforcement officer Zero Arome said the bus sped on the
wrong lane of the road when it collided with the truck head-on. It was
carrying 46 passengers at the time, he added.
NIGHT TRAVEL
The injured were rushed to Molo Sub-County Hospital and the Nakuru Level Five Hospital.
A
few hours after the crash, NTSA director-general Francis Meja directed
all passenger service vehicles to cease night travel with immediate
effect, and to only be on the road, between 6am and 7pm.
“Over
the recent past, our records indicate that majority of crashes occur
during the night,” Mr Meja explained. “In order to review the
effectiveness of current measures (and) to improve road safety, the
authority, in consultation with other relevant government agencies,
hereby suspends night travel.”
Earlier,
on December 16, the agency had launched a major crackdown on rogue
drivers along the Nairobi-Eldoret highway following the deaths of 17
people on the dangerous stretch. More than 30 vehicles were impounded
after NTSA officials erected a road block at Gilgil, where they
conducted random checks.
SPEED BUMPS
The
agency’s deputy director and head of enforcement, Mr Harred Adan, told
our team at Gilgil that this was part of Operation Safiri Salama,
launched a few days earlier.
Before
that, the agency had announced the erection of more speed bumps on the
Sachang’wan stretch following a horror accident on the dawn of December
12. Infrastructure principal secretary John Mosonik said the bumps were a
short-term measure before construction of a dual carriageway from Sobea
to Kamara at a cost of Sh500 million.
He also said the government was considering opening up the diversion at Njoro junction to be used by the commercial trucks.
A
few meters from the scene of the accident at Migaa on Sunday, police
officers nabbed a 14-seater van packed with passengers almost double its
legal capacity. The van, heading to Kakamega, had 25 passengers and two
crew, including the driver.
The driver, however, ran away after the van, operating under Sunrise Sacco, was stopped by the police.
Reporting by Reitz Mureithi, Joseph Openda and Francis Mureithi.
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