1 dies, 6 injured in Narok road crash

One person was killed, and six others were injured in a grisly road accident at Suswa area along Narok-Maai Mahiu road.

The accident happened after a Toyota Probox and Toyota Noah collided head-on.

It took more than 30 minutes for the driver of the Probox vehicle to be pulled out of the driver’s seat after he got stuck.

Confirming the incident, Narok East Sub-County Police Commander Jared Marando said the driver of the Probox succumb to the injuries.

“The accident happened near Suswa Girls area and it involved a Toyota Noah and Toyota Probox driven by an unknown driver who succumbed to his injuries while being taken to hospital,” Marando said.

Marando said that upon reaching the location of the accident, the Toyota Noah which was headed towards Nairobi direction overtook other motor vehicles without giving way to oncoming traffic thus colliding head-on with the oncoming Probox.

“The six people who were injured were in the Toyota Naoh. They include the driver, three children aged between 14 and nine years, and one adult passenger,” he said.

The accident forced hundreds of people attending the opening of Suswa Dispensary to throng the scene to rescue the driver who was stuck in the vehicle.

The injured were rushed to Narok County Referral Hospital for treatment and are in fair condition.

The deceased’s body was taken to the same facility’s morgue awaiting autopsy and identification.

The wreckages of the motor vehicles were towed to Ntulele Police Station awaiting inspection.

Marando has, however, cautioned drivers plying the busy highway to desist from overspending, especially during this festive month when many Kenyans are traveling to various destinations for holidays.

The authority in a report revealed that a total of 1,968 people lost their lives in road accidents from January to May.

The figure translates to a 9.3 per cent increase from the number of deaths recorded in a similar period in 2021 with pedestrians making the bulk of the fatalities.

Grim statistics show with a week in September at least 30 Kenyans lost their lives on the country’s roads.

These included six people who succumbed to injuries they sustained in a road crash along Thika-Garissa Highway. 

A head-on collision between a bus and a personal car in the Molomu area between Kanyonyo market and Kivandini market was blamed on the carelessness of the drivers.

The accident came just a day after five people died when a train rammed into a lorry carrying labourers from a construction site in Ruiru, Kiambu County.

Authorities stated that the driver of the lorry underestimated the train’s speed, causing the accident which left 12 labourers nursing serious injuries.

At the same time in September, seven people lost their lives in an accident at Silanka area along the Bomet-Narok road.

The accident involved an Ena coach matatu that was heading to Nairobi and a trailer heading to Bomet. 

In Kitui, 12 people died when a speeding matatu they were travelling in veered off the road and rolled several times shortly after branching at the Kanyonyoo junction. 

Elsewhere, one woman died on the spot when the bus she was travelling in left the road and rolled at Losengeli area in Sabatia, Vihiga County. 

The statistics come even as the authority plans to operationalise the Integrated Transport Management System (ITMS) to address the surging cases of road accidents which will be active by the end of the month.

NTSA Director-General George Njau says the new system will allow police officers to automatically gather information and recommend appropriate action for traffic offenders.

“At the end of June, we shall roll it out countrywide where police will be equipped with smart applications to help them automatically collect key road data for easy action,” he stated.

He added: “The new application will involve having modern speed limit checkers [and] authenticating valid road users’ documents, among others.” 

On the other hand, the government has threatened severe sanctions on motorists and Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) contravening the terms and conditions for the PSV Operator’s license during processions in campaign processions in the country.

This comes even as the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) revealed it had constructed more than 1,000km of walkways for pedestrians across the country with the lion share being Nairobi with 500km.

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