NAIROBI, Aug 7 – The National Transport and Safety Authority is warning members of the public and churches to avoid hiring school buses or any other belonging to state institutions because they are not insured to ferry passengers.
This follows Saturday morning’s accident on the Tawa-Machakos road where at least five people were killed and 49 others wounded when a school bus hired to ferry family members to a bribe-price ceremony was involved in an accident.
“Remember that when such an accident occurs, those involved cannot claim from the insurance,” an NTSA official told Capital FM News.
A preliminary investigation by the authority also faulted the driver for speeding beyond the set limit, travelling at night against regulations governing school buses and overloading because the bus was carrying 54 passengers at the time of the accident.
The accident occurred at Kikima area at the border of Machakos and Makueni counties at about 3 am on Sunday.
Police said all those killed are members of the same family or distant relatives because they were going back home in Tala after a bride price ceremony in Makueni.
Mbooni East police Chief John Baraza told journalists that the bus “must have been at high speed, and the driver most likely unfamiliar with the road.”
“The area where the accident occurred is a black spot where many accidents have occurred in the past. We had a similar one of people from a bride price sometimes back,” a police officer in the region said.
Cases of road accidents in the country are on a steady rise in recent weeks despite assurances from police and the NTSA on enhanced enforcement of traffic regulations.
Source : Capital fm
