CCTV footage has emerged on a tragic accident that occurred on Sunday, August 7, at Kamakis area along the Eastern Bypass and claimed the life of Miriam Mugaki, a student at a college along Thika Road.
Confirming the incident, Miriam’s brother, Eric Murithi, stated that the accident happened at around 5 PM when his sister was in the company of her fellow youth, identified as John Kamau, Francis and Shinary.
They were going to church in the Mutonya area, Nairobi County.
“They alighted at Kamakis, Ruiru Bypass for some lunch after coming from church only to end up being swiped by a vehicle,” stated Murithi.
The car rolled up after hitting Miriam. However, the man behind the wheels survived.The vehicle is currently being held at Ruiru Police station as the police are still investigating the matter.
The CCTV footage shows Miriam's counterparts cheat death by a whisker.
Data by the National Transport Safety Authority (NTSA) showed that the number of crashes due to walking or standing on the road jumped by 100 percent to 40 cases between January and October 2019 compared to a year ago.
While pedestrians have been accused of recklessly crossing the road at undesignated points, there has also been concern about the lack of safety facilities such as sidewalks, footbridges and zebra crossings.
Most highways across the country don’t have footbridges, thus leaving pedestrians at risk of collision with vehicles.
Recently, the government stepped up and installed footbridges on key roads including the Nairobi-Thika highway.
The footbridges are being installed at the Survey of Kenya, the Garden Estate junction, Witeithie, and Mang’u areas.
The NTSA has also erected barriers on Airport North Road and Mombasa Road and Waiyaki Way in Nairobi although the authority aims to cover more high-risk spots along these roads.
However, with these measures in place, there is still a concern about the lack of sidewalks.
For example, matatus use the pedestrian walkways in an attempt to beat traffic jams. And there has also been an emerging trend whereby traders take up spaces near the roads to set up their businesses.
This trend is seen to be common across most towns in Kenya raising concern on lapses in the enforcement of laws barring encroachment of road reserves.
{"preview_thumbnail":"/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/X6oNVRKSgc0.jpg?itok=QO0VaLSh","video_url":"","settings":{"responsive":1,"width":"854","height":"480","autoplay":0},"settings_summary":["Embedded Video (Responsive)."]}
