Three people have died in a grisly road accident along the Nairobi- Mombasa Highway at Tangu, near Salama Market Makaueni County.
Makueni Police County Commander Joseph Ole Napeiyan confirmed the accident occurred on Saturday morning at around 7:30hrs.
Commander Napeiyan said the three include a young man aged 27 years, an unidentified male and a 21-year-old lady.
He said another person is recuperating at the Kilungu Sub County Hospital with a slight head injury while a driver is on the run.
According to Salama Police Station report, three vehicles, two Lorries and a trailer were involved in the fatal accident.
“A Motor vehicle Nissan X-trail with registration number KBE 353U driving towards Nairobi general direction from Mombasa direction and on reaching the location of the accident the driver now deceased overtook fleet of motor vehicles and collided head-on with an oncoming motor vehicle, a Mercedes Actross registration number KCL 076R/ZF6710 that was coming from the opposite direction.” says the police report
The Police Commander explained, “The driver of the Nissan X-trail which caused the accident, carelessly overtook a fleet of vehicles without caution and came head-on with another vehicle. The On Coming driver didn’t expect a car in front and being a slope, the accident was unavoidable.”
He added that on the process another motor vehicle, a lorry ISUZU FRR with registration number KCX 245S was hit by the trailer and thrown off the road where it overturned.
“The tendency by the driver to overtake in a wrong place led him to be cornered, lacked where to turn and led them to hit the unexpected vehicle.” said the commander
He either warns drivers against breach of traffic rules and failure to keep to one’s lane in a climbing lane, asking them to exercise patience.
Thousands of Kenyans lose their lives in road carnages each year due to careless driving, ignorance of traffic rules and signs and also poorly enforced road safety laws.
Data by National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) shows that road crashes had killed 3,114 lives in 2020.
The Authority attributes these to reckless driving, dangerous overtaking, drunk driving, drunk walking, drunk riding, failure to use helmets among other issues leading to road traffic accidents.
Some 1,108 pedestrians, 275 drivers, 424 passengers, 350 pillion passengers, 73 pedal cyclists and 884 motorcyclists perished in 2020.
