35 people killed on Nakuru roads in October alone, NTSA reports
A pedestrian waits to cross the highway adjacent to Midlands hotel on November 20, 2023.
Nakuru County is among the top counties in the latest report released by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) on road accidents for the month of October, 2023.
According to the report, Nairobi comes in first with 39 fatalities and Nakuru comes in a close second with a total of 35 fatalities.
Most of these accidents occur along the major highways in the county, these being Nairobi-Nakuru Highway, Eldoret-Nakuru Highway and the Naivasha- Mai Mahiu Road.
Nakuru leads in the highest number of driver deaths at six fatalities and the highest number of passenger fatalities at eight.
From the report, the main reason highlighted as to why there are so many pedestrian fatalities is due to road infrastructure issues.
Road infrastructure encompasses physicals assets such as roads themselves and all that is inclusive with it such as bus stops, fly overs and drainages.
One such glaring threat that mostly pedestrians in the Central Business District face is that of crossing the main highway adjacent to Midlands hotel as they try to make their way to various parts of the town.
From the report, one of the fatalities occurred along this stretch of the highway adding to the list of accidents that have occurred here, the past one being that of Mzee Elijah Chelaite, husband to former Rongai MP and Nakuru Mayor Alicen Chelaite who passed in August this year, in a road accident while crossing on foot towards Mache hardware store in Nakuru City.
Many of those who alight at various stages from KFA, Kenyatta University, Shell, Posta and Odeon have to cross this treacherous road to get to the other side.
Another interesting fact from the report is that most of the road accidents occur between the hours of 5p.m and 9 p.m.
This coincides with the numerous accidents that have occurred along the Nakuru- Eldoret Highway, one being of the nine-year-old boy who lost his life on July 9 at around 9 p.m.
NTSA Director General, George Njau said the authority will launch a campaign in December for a period of 60 days to create road safety during the festive season.