Tuesday, April 18, 2023 –Police have blamed the driver who was behind the wheel in a matatu that crashed along Nakuru-Nairobi highway today afternoon killing at least six students from Western Kenya.
Authorities established that the driver was too impatient on the road; what led him to cause the ghastly accident that claimed huge number of young lives traveling back home from school.
Naivasha Sub-county Commander, Emmanuel Bowen, has said that the Matatu driver was in a hurry to reach his destination(Nairobi) and, in the process, miscalculated his lanes on the fateful afternoon, Tuesday.
The police boss further noted that the 2 PM accident occurred when the passenger vehicle was sandwiched between two cars and another third oncoming lorry, leaving it without any extra escape route on the ever busy highway.
“It happened that the passenger vehicle was trying to overtake a long fleet of vehicles near the Dalamare Farm, when unfortunately, a lorry was also approaching and the driver had nowhere to go to,” Nakuru Police explained to the media.
The oncoming lorry was in a speed and could not make an emergency breaking hence the bloody accident that left PSV occupants some dead some seriously injured.
Though the two cars tried to both escape the collision, the matatu driver was unlucky when he dived into a deep ditch on the roadside.
“The victims were all girls students who were traveling home from a Vihiga school. The survivors were immediately rushed to Naivasha Sub-county Hospital where they are currently receiving treatment,” the area Police boss stated.
He, therefore, urged drivers to learn to observe simple traffic rules like avoiding dangerous overtaking on major highways.
Hours later, the Cabinet chaired by President William Ruto, on Tuesday, April 18, raised concerns over the rising cases of road carnage.
The officials attributed the surge in cases of road crashes to avoidable human blunder along major highways in the country.
As a recommendation, Ruto’s cabinet ended up directing National Police Service NPS and the National Transport and Safety Authority NTSA to heighten surveillance and crackdown on motorists flouting traffic rules.
