Why Outer Ring Road is Nairobi’s deadliest

Though expanded three years ago to smoothen the commute, Outer Ring Road has become a killer route instead and is now the deadliest in Nairobi.

Data from the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) shows that the road claimed 32 lives between January and September this year.

Thika Road, which is lengthier and busier, claimed 30 lives over the same period.

Other high-risk roads as identified by NTSA include Mombasa Road (29 deaths), Northern Bypass (25), Waiyaki Way (22), Southern Bypass (21), Eastern Bypass (20), Kangundo Road (20), Ngong Road (20), Juja Road (15) and Jogoo Road (10).

NTSA estimates that pedestrians accounted for at least 90 percent of all the deaths.

Nairobi Area Traffic Commandant Joshua Omukata admitted that Outer Ring Road is a headache, with many pedestrians risking their lives to cross the dangerous road instead of using designated spots.

The designated spots include footbridges, zebra crossings and where traffic marshals control traffic.

Nation.Africa visited the highway to unearth how a venture meant to increase commerce and enhance road safety has turned into a slaughterhouse for city residents.

Antony Mwangi, a resident of Fedha estate, lamented the distance between footbridges and bus stops and so he would rather risk the deadly cross.

“The bus stop is almost 350 metres from where the footbridge takes us. I have to then walk back to the bus stop to board a matatu. Why would I do all that work when I can simply cross from this Fedha junction and get a matatu?” he said.

Asked what would make him use the footbridge at all times, his answer was ready: “If they put an iron sheet or metal rails at the centre of the road, then, perhaps, we can always use the footbridge, but if they do not, we will still cross this road.”

Metal rails, says NTSA programme and data manager Samuel Musumba, have worked on other roads that were previous hotspots for accidents.

They worked for the Ngara hotspot on Thika Road and Quarry on Outer Ring Road.

The five-kilometre stretch from Donholm to Taj Mall has no designated bus stops, a resident of Tassia lamented, forcing matatu drivers to pick up and drop off passengers at spots that are far from footbridges.

But after an audit of Outer Ring Road in 2017, NTSA says, several designated matatu stops were set up on the road.

The redesign is yet to be completed. As a result, matatus drop off passengers in the middle of the roads just under the footbridges, forcing them to walk across the road and then re-cross it by climbing the footbridges.

The Quarry footbridge is located less than a kilometre from the notorious Fedha footbridge.

Here, most of the passengers coming from the city centre use the footbridge because matatus drop them off right at the foot of the structure.

Dance with death

Other than that, there is a fenced protected area with a railway line, compelling residents to use the footbridge to reach their homes.

Despite all these measures, commuters coming from the Taj Mall direction and want to alight at Quarry must be dropped off in the middle of the busy road and then dance with death trying to cross the highway.

Another resident revealed that almost no one uses the footbridge when night falls due to safety reasons.

“No one risks using this footbridge at night. Some goons wait for people and threaten to throw them at the speeding vehicles underneath the bridge if they fail to give them something," David Chesicheri said.

Lack of streetlights at the footbridges is also a concern that the NTSA said it is addressing.

Further down the highway, slightly past Donholm, lies a deserted footbridge. Not a single person was using it when Nation.Africa visited the area. Barely 30 metres from this spot, a few pedestrians were rushing and dodging oncoming motorcycles and vehicles while crossing the road.

Less than one kilometre from this greatly underutilised walkway is the Mutindwa footbridge, barely 200 metres from the busy Umoja estate junction, off Outer Ring Road.

Huge stone walls have even been raised at the centre of Outer Ring Road to prevent people from crossing from one side of the road to the other. 

Interestingly, pedestrians still opt to cross the road just right next to the footbridge, expertly making their way through the minimum spaces between the yellow stone walls meant to discourage them from doing just that.

Two kilometres from this spot is the incomplete footbridge in Kariobangi South, which has no cover over its metallic structure. Rarely do pedestrians use this structure.

Slightly over a kilometre from this skyway is the dreaded Kariobangi footbridge, which residents said was a favourite spot for thieves, who begin their “operations” as soon as darkness falls and remain there until dawn.

“I would rather risk my life and run across the road than dare use this ‘bridge’ early in the morning or in the evening. We fear it so much that at times we do not even use it in the daytime,” a Kariobangi resident said.

We observed that at around 3pm only a handful of people were using the footbridge.
Security concerns have made the Kiamaiko and Riverside footbridges, located one and three kilometres respectively from the Kariobangi footbridge, unpopular with users.

The last footbridge on Outer Ring Road is the massive Allsops one, located where Outer Ring joins Thika Road.

So huge is the footbridge that a resident equated it to "forty footbridges put together to tire pedestrians using it”.

A few locals, who did not want to be named, revealed that they totally shunned the structure due to its imposing size and walked across the road, risking being hit by vehicles.

The lack of social amenities such as water points, shops, food kiosks and toilet facilities forces many people who live near the Allsops footbridge to constantly cross the bridge in search of the services. 

For instance, there is no single toilet at the busy junction, with the closest ones being nearly two kilometres away near the Riverside footbridge.

“Honestly, we do not use this footbridge, because it is very long. I rarely use it, and that is the case for my friends here,” a tout identified as Rasta said.]

Defends design

Commandant Omukata, however, defended the designs of the footbridges, saying highly qualified engineers and architects took their time to design them and that the technocrats understood best what was safe for users.

But the founder and director of Roads Volunteer, Georgekelvin Nyagah, believes that more should be done to make Outer Ring Road more user-friendly as it serves a large population with its entire stretch covered by numerous developments.

As such, the footbridges placed almost two kilometres apart cannot meet the needs of pedestrians. He noted that the footbridges are insecure at night and discouraged many people from using them.

He also said that the bus stops on the busy road are located in inconvenient places, making it harder for pedestrians, especially those with luggage.

"The road should have PSV lanes in service lanes instead of the normal bus stops that are far apart. Secondly, enforcement should also come with security to guarantee pedestrians safety, especially at night. You cannot build a pedestrian fence and direct them to crime. It's a tricky situation," he said.

For its part, the NTSA urges Kenyans to stop treating their road safety casually as it is a life-and-death matter.

“Let us not wait until you are affected by failure to adhere to the road safety guidelines, otherwise, we shall continue losing more of our loved ones. It is a collective responsibility for all road users,” Mr Musumba said.