- It has emerged that the vehicle that crashed with a PSV on the Nyeri-Nyahururu Highway was overloaded
- The saloon car had nine occupants onboard, six of whom perished at the scene near the Solio Ranch
- Ten people perished with several others injured in the crash reported on the evening of Thursday, December 28
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A family lost its six members in a deadly crash on the evening of Thursday, December 28.
According to police, the saloon car in which the deceased crashed was overloaded with excess passengers.
It had nine occupants onboard.
"The small car had nine people; five adults and four children. We can say it was overloaded in a way," Nyeri Police Commander Benjamin Rotich told journalists.
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What caused the Nyeri-Nyahuru road crash?
A Nyeri-bound 14-seater matatu coming from Nyahururu crashed with the saloon car, the impact catching a motorcycle rider who died on the spot.
Those injured were ferried to the Mary Immaculate Hospital Mweiga, with others referred to the Nyeri County Referral Level 5 Hospital.
The witnesses confiding in Citizen TV claimed potholes on the road had contributed to numerous accidents reported in the recent past.
The road carnage came days after three people were killed and several others injured in another one in Mombasa.
The victims were on board a Mash Cool bus en route to Malindi from Nairobi on Sunday, December 24, when it encountered a heavy truck near the Taru Town Centre along the Mombasa-Nairobi Highway.
What caused the Mash Poa bus accident?
Preliminary investigations established the driver of the trailer could not keep to his lane, prompting the bus to veer off the road in a bid to escape it.
The cabin of the truck was wrecked following the impact of the collision, with the bus, equally wrecked, overturning beside the road.
The Red Cross had earlier confirmed in an update that 19 people were severely injured.
They were rushed to the Samburu Sub-County Hospital for treatment as the deceased's bodies were booked into the Kinango Sub-County Hospital Mortuary.
The accident came after others in Turkana, Bomet and Trans Nzoia counties.
This came less than 24 hours after eight other people perished in separate accidents in various parts of the country.
On December 23, four women selling milk were killed after a bus lost control and rammed into the crowd at Kalemngorok along the Lodwar-Kitale Highway.
Three others were killed by a PSV at a spot in Maili Nane along the busy Kitale-Eldoret highway where a lorry hit a bodaboda operator.
According to witnesses, the lorry driver was avoiding a pothole when he hit the rider on whose motorcycle were two passengers.
In Bomet, one was killed and two others injured after another lorry hit a motorcyclist.
Travellers cautioned
The national government issued a series of advisories to Kenyans to avert road accidents in the festivities.
The Inspector General of the National Police Service, Japhet Koome, instructed all officers on leave to resume work immediately owing to increased traffic on the roads.
Koome noted that the increase in numbers was due to the festive season, which led to a high movement of people and the heavy downpours currently experienced in most regions.
Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen had earlier announced a decrease in road accident casualties by 8.11% this year.
Murkomen said the number of traffic fatalities recorded from January 1 to December 7 was 3,999, compared to last year's 4,352.
"Over the last year, our collective effort has reduced road traffic fatalities. From January 1st to December 7th, 2023, we witnessed a commendable 8.11% decrease in lives lost due to road traffic injuries compared with the same period last year—down from 4,352 to 3,999," he remarked.
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