Road safety organizations have blamed the resurgence of fatal accidents on failure by the relevant agencies to inspect vehicles.
Officials of the lobby groups warned that the rising road carnage, caused mainly by faulty heavy trucks, will continue unabated unless drastic measures are taken to regn in offenders.
Speed Governors and Road Safety Association chairman Edward Gitonga put the blame on National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) for removing inspection stickers from public transportation vehicles (PSVs) and lorries.
Gitonga, accompanied by his National Transport and Safety Association chairman David Kiarie, spoke during a fact-finding visit at the scene of last Friday’s gristly accident at Kayole in Naivasha, Nakuru County that killed two people.
A trailer transporting building materials reportedly rammed into a pickup ferrying paints and burst into flames on impact after it’s brakes failed, killing both drivers and leaving two other people with serious injuries.
The officials also called for a probe into the possibility of truck divers violating a traffic regulations that bars heavy trucks from using the Limuru-Naivasha highway instead of Limuru-Mai Mahiu road.
Further, Gitonga said the government should initiate the dualing of the Limuru -Mau Summit highway in a bid to minimize accidents and reduce traffic jams that have become a headache to travellers.
Kiarie on his part said their statistics show that trucks were involved in more than 100 accidents since the beginning of the year, resulting to a worrying escalation road deaths.
He also said the law should be amended to have motorists who cause deaths on the roads charged with murder.
A volunteer road safety official James Kabono who witnessed the latest Naivasha accident said the driver of the ill-fated truck may have taken advantage of the absence of policemen on the road at the time of the accident.
He called for more patrols along the busy road to weed out rogue drivers.
Antony Kioko
