President Uhuru orders traffic police to remove unroadworthy vehicles

juma chrispinus

February 11, 2017 11:45 AM

Last year over 40 people lost their lives in a similar accident at Naivasha along Nairobi-Nakuru highway.

Following the death of ten people Friday evening in the grisly Meru accident, President Uhuru Kenyatta has ordered for the removal of road unworthy vehicles in a crackdown that will see a reduced number of accidents.

Uhuru has told the traffic police to be vigilant on the road to reduce accidents.

Speaking Saturday morning, President Uhuru issued the order after at least six people were killed in an accident at Kiengu on Maua-Farm-Kinna-Garbatulla road.

Ten people, the police said, died on the spot the Friday evening accident after a driver of a lorry that was carrying unspecified number of people from Maua to Kina and Garbatula lost control.

Eye witnesses expressed fears that the number of fatalities would to rise as there were reports that some people were trapped in the lorry that overturned after hitting two other vehicles.

The lorry is said to have hit a Probox and a Toyota G Touring that was coming from the opposite direction before it rolled and crashed into a nearby house at Kiengu in Igembe North. An eye witness account says that the lorry seemingly lost its brakes before ramming into the two vehicles.

Naivasha tragedy

Last year December, 40 people were killed when a tanker rammed into a series of vehicles, exploding along Nairobi-Nakuru highway.

Residents at the grisly Naivasha scene narrated that the road had not been marked despite the erection of a new bump in the area, raising criticism to the authorities over the quality of work on the roads.

The National Transport and Safety Authority has, however, taken several measures to reduce the number of accidents on Kenya's roads.

They include the erection of speed bumps and crackdowns on unroadworthy vehicles and motorists who do not observe traffic rules

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