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Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Accidents kill 170 in one month

 Three people died instantly and 12 others were seriously injured when the matatu they were travelling in collided with a truck on the Mombasa-Nairobi highway on Tuesday. Photo/ANTHONY OMUYA 


Road accidents killed 170 people in the last one month.
This is is fewer than in 2008 when 224 people died. In the previous year, 266 people were killed over the same period.
Nineteen of the 170 died between Monday night and Tuesday afternoon, according to the traffic commandant Joseph ole Tito.
He blamed the accidents on interference with speed governors by public service vehicle drivers.
“Most drivers activate the speed governors and slow down when they approach traffic police roadblocks but quickly reactivate the gadgets once they drive past. However, we are enforcing stringent traffic rules popularly referred to as Michuki rules,” Mr Tito said.
“However, we are enforcing stringent traffic rules popularly referred to as Michuki rules,” Mr Tito said.
He said traffic police officers countrywide prosecuted more than 1,500 cases involving traffic violations daily. Between January and June 2009, traffic police recorded 1,963 fatal accidents on Kenyan roads compared to 1,020 in 2008 and 1,146 in 2007.
On Tuesday, one person died and others hurt when a school bus collided with a tanker in the Gilgil area on the Naivasha-Nakuru highway.
On Monday, eight people died when a matatu they were travelling on was involved in an accident near Thika Town.
Three others who were among 10 taken to a Thika hospital died later, bringing the death toll to 11.
The driver of the matatu is said to have lost control of the vehicle and veered off the road before ramming a tree by the roadside.
In another accident, a six-year-old was crashed to death by a speeding vehicle near Arasha market on the Nakuru-Nyahururu road.
Family members
Six family members - Nairobi lawyer Ken Watta, his wife Hellen Anyango, two children, sister-in-law Crispin Akinyi Otieno and Wycliff Okoyo Okwayo, son of a former Cabinet minister - died last Saturday when their car collided with a bus on the Keroka-Sotik road.

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