Protesters Shut Down Nakuru-Nairobi Highway

Protestors blocking Nakuru-Nairobi highway on July 29, 2021
Protestors blocking Nakuru-Nairobi highway on July 29, 2021
Facebook

Protestors paralyzed operations in a section of the Nakuru-Nairobi highway on July 29, citing the rapid increase in the number of accidents on the road.

The protesters were demanding the immediate erection of bumps on a section of the road in order to control the speed of vehicles plying the busy route.

They alleged that seven pedestrians have died on the road in the one past week in accidents that they claim were caused by speeding vehicles along the Greensteds section of the highway

They burned vehicle tires and placed boulders on the roads rendering it impassable by motorists and even pedestrians on the route.

An aerial view of the blocked Nakuru-Nairobi Highway
An aerial view of the blocked Nakuru-Nairobi Highway
Facebook

This comes a week after a lorry plying the same route ran over a traffic police officer who was on duty controlling traffic on the same route.

The lorry driver reportedly lost control and veered off the road hitting a Mololine matatu which was on its way to Nairobi from Nakuru.

Videos and pictures of the officer lying on the road after the accident were widely circulated on social media that caused an uproar among netizens complaining about numerous roadblocks along the busy highway.

In a separate incident, four people lost their lives and others sustained serious injuries in a grisly accident along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway in the early morning hours of July 21, 2021.

The public service vehicle rammed into the rear of a stalled trailer at the Sabaki area near Athi-river. Both vehicles were headed to Nairobi.

According to witnesses, the matatu was speeding and there was no alternative of swerving off to the right to avoid the deadly collision as there was an oncoming lorry headed in the opposite direction.

Fatalities from road carnages are reported to be on an upward trend as 750 people died in road accidents in a span of two months beginning January 2021 compared to the 560 that happened in the same period last year.

Youths blockade the Nakuru-Naivasha highway on July 29,2021
Youths blockade the Nakuru-Naivasha highway on July 29, 2021
Facebook

 

 

  • . . . .