Bodaboda crush survivors left with agony

Boda boda riders involved in an accident in Kisii town on 25/2/2024. Boda boda riders have been accused by authorities in the town of ignoring basic traffic rules resulting to many accidents witnessed in the town. [Sammy Omingo,Standard]

Thousands of boda boda operators continue to battle for survival long after the screech of brakes and the wail of sirens fade away.

Behind the cold statistics are fathers, sons, mothers, daughters and breadwinners whose lives are altered in an instant, often beyond repair.

And the latest data from the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) paints a grimmer picture!

Of the 4,200 people who have died on Kenyan roads this year, 1,085 of them resulted from motorbike accidents.

These numbers are chilling, deepening the bodaboda health and security crisis in a country where motorbikes have become a lifeline for thousands of unemployed youths, powering a multi-billion-shilling micro-economy that feeds households.

Yet for many riders, the same two wheels that sustain their families also expose them to life-threatening dangers, daily risks made worse by speeding vehicles, poor road designs, minimal training, and inadequate enforcement of safety laws.

One such victim is 30-year-old George Egessa, a once energetic and ambitious rider from Makongeni Estate in Thika. His life took a devastating turn on January 13, 2025.

“After dropping off a passenger, I was hit from behind by a speeding tuk-tuk whose driver fled, leaving me sprawled on the road and fighting for my life,” Egessa recalled, his voice heavy with emotion.

Good Samaritans rushed him to Thika Level 5 Hospital, where he was treated for severe spinal and head injuries. He spent weeks unable to walk or feed himself.

“Sometimes, I even lost consciousness. Doctors told me that had I delayed for even a few minutes, I would not be alive,” he says.

Everything changed

Months of immobility left him unable to provide for his three children. Treatment costs, many outside the Social Health Authority (SHA) cover, forced the family into financial turmoil. His wife took odd casual jobs, relatives contributed small amounts, and fundraisers were held to clear bills.

Today, Egessa is back on the road out of sheer necessity. Persistent back pain, headaches, and occasional numbness restrict how long he can work. Every time he starts his engine, he remembers the day everything changed.

“I have three children who look up to me. My wife cannot sustain us alone. When she leaves for her casual jobs, I pick my boda so I can help her. But every day I ride, I pray that nothing happens to me again,” he narrates.

He now operates under the Kamenu Society Bodaboda Association, struggling to rebuild his life one day at a time.

His colleague, Paul Kimani Ngugi, carries similar scars and memories. During a trip upcountry in 2023, his motorbike brakes failed while he was ferrying a passenger. He swerved off the road and hit a metal guard-rail that ripped into his right leg.

“When I saw the injury, I knew things were bad,” he said. “But what made it worse was that doctors were on strike. I stayed in a hospital bed for two weeks without the urgent surgery I needed.”

His wound worsened, infection set in, and the delay cost him his leg.

“I remember being told, at Kijabe Hospital, that the only way to save my life was to amputate,” Ngugi recounts. “That moment broke me.”

Today, he alternates between running his welding workshop in Ngoingwa and riding his bodaboda when business is slow.

“The prosthetic leg helps me move around, but welding is physically demanding. Some days I cannot manage, so I pick my boda boda and try to get something small to feed my family,” he said.

At Thika Level 5 Hospital, 27-year-old John Mwangi lies on a bed with metal rods holding his fractured legs together. The Kiganjo-based rider was struck by a speeding saloon car while trying to avoid a pothole in late October.

“That spot has many potholes, and all of us riders know it. But on that day I misjudged,” Mwangi said. “The vehicle hit me so hard that I thought my legs were gone.”

Surgeons have warned him that recovery may take more than a year, and he may never regain full mobility.

“How will my family survive?” he posed, holding back tears. “I was the only provider.”

In Ruiru, 24-year-old Sharon Achieng, a hairdresser, is recovering from multiple fractures after the boda she boarded collided with a lorry near Toll area.

“The lorry appeared suddenly, the rider tried to swerve, but it was too late,” she said. “He died instantly. Sometimes I dream about it.”

Achieng, a pillion passenger on the ill-fated motorbike, requires months of physiotherapy and may be unable to stand for long hours as her job demands.

A senior clinician at Thika Level 5 Hospital, says the facility receives boda boda accident victims almost daily.

“We receive between 10 and 15 boda boda related cases every day. Some come with crushed limbs, severe head injuries, or spinal damage,” she said. “We have had to reorganise our wards because the number keeps increasing.”

At Ruiru Level 4 Hospital, the situation is the same.

A senior nurse noted that most of the riders check in with fractured legs, arms and skulls due to the body hitting the tarmac after the accident.

“Helmets are either not worn or are of very poor quality. We have lost many young men who would still be alive if they had proper protective gear,” she said. “Families are being devastated.”

Along the Thika–Garissa Highway, the Kivulini stretch has been identified as a death trap. For Wilson Kibe, a rider based in at Makongeni, this stretch holds painful memories.

“In the past one month alone, three of my colleagues have been knocked down at Kivulini,” Kibe tells The Nairobian. “We are traumatised. These were young men with families.”

He pleaded with motorists and other road users to be more considerate.

“All I wish is for drivers to slow down and treat us like fellow human beings. We all want to go back home alive,” he said.

23-year-old food vendor Mary Mbithe, another victim, suffered a severe burn on her left palm after falling from a motorbike during this year’s Gen Z protest anniversary demonstrations in Thika.

As they hit the ground, her hand landed on the motorcycle’s exhaust pipe, causing deep burns that later required reconstructive surgery. Mbithe, who earns a living through cooking and household labour, is slowly recovering but says the injury has thrown her future into disarray. 

“This hand is my life,” she said softly. “I can’t even wash my own clothes now, and I don’t know how I will provide for my children if it doesn’t heal properly.”

New reality

According to Dr Daniel Somba, the managing director and Chief Radiologist at MIC Imaging Centre in Thika, motorcycle-related injuries have reached crisis levels.

“In a single day, we attend to up to 20 victims of motorcycle accidents. The injuries are often severe: fractures, internal bleeding, spinal trauma, and head injuries,” he said.

In mid-November, during a road safety campaign in Thika dubbed Makinika Barabarani, stakeholders warned that, unless Kenyans change their road behaviour, more families will suffer.

Road accident survivor Fridah Kirema told the gathering that reducing road carnage is a collective responsibility.

“Road safety is everyone’s job. If we all follow the rules, we save lives,” she says.

For survivors and their families, the struggle begins long after they leave the hospital: financial hardship, disability, trauma and loss of livelihood define their new reality.