Traffic on Nairobi's Thika Road was on Sunday night, November 17, disrupted after a 14-seater matatu overturned blocking two lanes of the main road.
In the chilling incident that happened at around 10 pm in the Garden City area, vehicles and road users travelling towards the Central Business District (CBD) were affected by the accident.
According to an eye witness, the matatu made an emergency roll after the driver was forced to apply emergency brakes while avoiding hitting a small car that was just in front of it.
The small vehicle, an online taxi, slammed on its brakes suddenly, forcing the matatu driver to also apply emergency brakes, which caused the matatu to roll over.
The details were confirmed by local road safety groups led by Sikika Road Safety, who revealed that the driver of the matatu tried taking control of the wheel before the unfortunate scene occurred.
''Kindly we need an emergency ambulance at Thika Road now. A matatu has rolled over at Garden City towards town. It is said that an online driver break-checked him,’’ Sikika stated in an update.
The accident made the matatu block part of the road, leaving only the inner lane passable of the Thika Road passable.
Videos seen by Kenyans. co.ke, showed bodaboda operators, with the aid of traffic police officers, attempting to pull the rolled matatu.
This was just a moment after rescuing the occupants who had been trapped inside. The survivors were retrieved from the vehicle through the glass window of the van.
The video also showed the windscreen of the matatu had shattered, with the van hugely damaged on one side.
Thika Road is known for most road carnages that have happened in the past, especially those involving public service vehicles. On November 8 this year, another crash involving a matatu and a small car occurred near the General Service Unit(GSU) headquarters leaving the occupants with injuries.
The National Transport and Safety Authority(NTSA) led by the Board chair Manoj Shah in a report dated November 17, disclosed that road accidents cause Kenya to lose an average of Ksh310 billion annually.
''The economic loss due to road traffic crashes in Kenya is estimated at about 5% of the GDP every year amounting to an annual loss of US$ 3.1 Billion or approximately KES 310 Billion,'' part of the statement read.
