Kinyanjui introduces measures to curb Salgaa accidents

By STEVE MKAWALE

Nakuru, Kenya: Accidents at the Salgaa-Kibunja blackspot on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway may soon be history if measures introduced by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) and the traffic police department yield expected results.

Authority chairman Lee Kinyanjui and Traffic Commandant Samuel Kimaru said yesterday that a speed gun would be provided for officers at the Salgaa trading centre in the next two days to curb speeding.

The officers have also been instructed to revoke driving licenses of drivers found ‘freewheeling’ (driving in free gear) along the steep 11-kilometre stretch.

“We have agreed to have a unit that will be armed with a speed gun deployed along the stretch to stop truck drivers from speeding,” said Kinyanjui after touring the stretch that has so far claimed 71 lives in less than a year.

The tour follows a recent accident that left 13 people dead. Nine of them were members of the same family who were returning home to Nakuru from dowry negotiations.

The death toll from the accident rose to 14 after another member of the family who had been admitted in Kijabe Mission Hospital died on Monday night.