Several people were left nursing injuries after a freak accident involving a personal vehicle and a matatu on the afternoon of Sunday, June 22.
The accident, which took place in the Kayole area of Naivasha along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, saw the personal vehicle ram into the rear side of a 14-seater matatu, which was travelling in the opposite direction.
Moments before the accident, dashcam footage obtained by Kenyans.co.ke showed the personal car travelling at an extremely high speed, posing a risk to pedestrians and other motorists along the busy highway.
At around 2:41pm, the vehicle was seen swerving off the road in a bid to avoid another oncoming personal vehicle, which was attempting to overtake a lorry.
Moments later, the same vehicle lost control before swerving into the next lane and subsequently hitting a matatu travelling in the opposite direction. Because of the impact, the matatu, which was hit on the side, lost control and toppled to its side.
Local residents sprang into action as they attempted to get the trapped passengers onboard the matatu out of the vehicle, which was lying on its side. No deaths were reported at the time of publication of this article.
While the overspeeding vehicle did not roll, it suffered considerable damage to its front side as a result of the impact. The fate of the personal vehicle's driver remains unknown.
If the dashcam footage is anything to go by, the driver of the personal vehicle appeared to have lost control of the vehicle mere milliseconds after trying to swerve back onto the highway after he was forced out by an overtaking vehicle moments earlier.
Because he was at extremely high speeds, the swerve compromised the vehicle’s balance, plunging it into the back of the matatu.
Notably, this was the second accident reported along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, coming barely hours after a Member of County Assembly (MCA) from Nyandarua County passed away in a separate incident.
Beth Wahito lost her life on Saturday evening after the vehicle she was travelling in was hit by a Guardian Angel bus as she attempted to drive across the road at an intersection.
Wahito served as a coordinator of the ruling party, United Democratic Alliance (UDA), in Nyandarua County.
