Five dead, scores injured in grisly road accident

Five people died on the spot and scores others seriously injured on Friday evening in a grisly accident involving a public service vehicle (PSV) belonging to Faraja Sacco and a stationery lorry at Longisa area along the Bomet-Narok route.

Bomet County Police Commandant Leah Kithei said the matatu headed towards Narok way from Kisii route rammed into a stationary lorry that had stalled for hours in the middle of the road.

Twelve passengers are fighting for their lives at Longisa County Hospital while the critical are admitted at Tenwek Mission Hospital’s ICU section.

Bodies of the deceased were moved to the morgue in Longisa hospital.

This incident comes days after the NTSA said that fatalities caused by private cars have risen while those caused by public service vehicles have reduced.

Speaking in Meru during the validation and repair of speed governors installed in Public Service Vehicles (PSV), NTSA Director of Motor Vehicle Inspection Gerald Wangai said the department has recorded many accidents involving private vehicles as compared to public ones.

Wangai said that private vehicles accounted for 34 per cent of all accidents every year, followed by heavy commercial vehicles at 24 per cent, PSVs at 21 per cent and motor cycles at 17 per cent.

In September, NTSA reported that about 1,899 lives were lost through road accidents between January and August this year, with 60 per cent of these being pedestrian and boda boda riders.

The report also showed that there is an increase in the number of motorbike users.

This had in turn pushed up the number of road accidents as opposed to last year where there was a reduction of 10 per cent in the number of accidents.

Kenyans have been asked to observe traffic laws as they go about their day-to-day activities.