At least six people have lost their lives in a string of road accidents across Machakos and Kajiado counties, painting a grim picture of Kenya’s escalating road safety crisis.
In the latest incident, a woman died on the spot after a saloon car she was traveling in plunged into the Yatta canal along the Thika–Garissa highway on Sunday morning.
Two other occupants a man and another woman, were critically injured and rushed to a private hospital in Kithimani.
Eyewitnesses said the vehicle, headed towards Kithimani from Matuu, veered off the road and landed in the canal.
The deceased’s body remained trapped in the wreckage for hours as police and residents worked to retrieve it.
Just hours earlier, three men died after a truck rammed into a wall at the Mombasa–Namanga Road interchange near Shalom Community Hospital in Athi River.
Police said the driver lost control, fatally injuring himself and his two passengers.
And in Kajiado County, a man was killed by a speeding vehicle near KCB Bank in Kitengela. Days earlier, residents torched a lorry that killed a mother and her child along the same road.
The boda boda rider ferrying them fled the scene, while the lorry driver was severely beaten by an angry mob.
Isinya Subcounty Police Commander Simon Lokitari confirmed that he had asked the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to install speed bumps or signage at the Kitengela accident blackspot.
“These accidents are becoming all too frequent. Public anger is justified, but we must also respect the rule of law and wait for investigations,” Lokitari said.
KeNHA has since begun installing road signage at the fatal spot.
