Salgaa Tragedy: A Look At Past Accidents And Government Action

• The August 20 Nakuru-Eldoret road accident near Salgaa could have been avoided if the police had not ignored passengers' warnings about the faulty condition of the bus
• Most of the road crashes experienced in the country have been attributed to poor driving practices, such as speeding
• The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) earlier reported that 1,189 people lost their lives in road accidents between January and April 2024

Nancy Odindo, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings more than three years of experience covering politics, news, and feature stories across digital and print media in Kenya.

In recent months, the country has faced a series of tragic accidents resulting in numerous fatalities.

On Tuesday, August 20, the nation was plunged into mourning following a devastating bus crash on the Nakuru-Eldoret Highway near Salgaa, which claimed 14 lives and left several others injured.

The accident occurred as the bus was travelling from Kakamega to Mombasa and has been attributed to police negligence, as officers reportedly ignored passenger calls about the bus's faulty condition.

Police have announced an investigation into the incident, but historically, detailed information on such accidents is often delayed. Nonetheless, road conditions remain a significant concern for many Kenyans.

What does NTSA say about increased accidents?

According to preliminary findings, many of these accidents are linked to dangerous driving practices such as wrong overtaking and overspeeding, issues that the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has been actively combating.

TUKO.co.ke reached out to the transport authority to inquire about the measures being taken or planned by the government to address the recurring road accidents.

At the time of publishing, they were yet to respond.

Meanwhile, NTSA reported that between January and April 2024, 1,189 lives were lost in road accidents.

What other accidents shook the country?

Just a week before the Salgaa crash, Gilgil OCPD Jamleck Ngaruiya reported that a family of five died on the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway when their Mercedes Benz car, believed to have been overtaking in the wrong lane at high speed, collided with an oncoming lorry.

Another accident involved an unknown number of people, believed to have been returning from a night party, who died when their 'speeding' car rolled multiple times in the Thindugua area along Kiambu Road.

On July 11, five more people were killed when their Toyota Wish collided with a trailer on the Murang’a-Kenol Highway while overtaking improperly.

In mid-June, seven people were killed and several injured when a truck rammed into pedestrians at Timau town on the Meru-Nanyuki Highway.

Additionally, three foreigners died in a crash along the Narok-Mulot route after their driver allegedly overtook incorrectly, leading to a fatal collision.

A Mandera-bound bus from Nairobi hit a trailer in the Katumba area along the Nairobi-Garissa Highway, killing 10 people on the spot.

The death of 11 Kenyatta University public health students on an academic trip to Mombasa, with over 40 others injured, also shocked the nation. The police pledged to investigate this tragedy.

Meanwhile, President William Ruto promised that the government would investigate a chopper crash that killed General Francis Ogolla and eight other Kenya Defence Forces officers.

Although progress has been made, there remains speculation about the sudden crash of the ill-fated crash immediately after it took off.

Proofreading by Mercy Nyambura Guthua, journalist and copy editor at TUKO.co.ke