RVIST students urge Kenha to modify highway after deaths of three peers in crash
The wreckage of a matatu which was involved in a road accident at Ngata bridge in Nakuru County killing three students from RVIST. The vehicle was towed to Kaptembwa Police station
Rift Valley Institute of Science and Technology (RVIST) students want the government to make changes to the Sobea-Ngata stretch of the Nakuru-Eldoret highway so as to avert more accidents.
Led by their president, Mr Daniel Kiptanui, they said the Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha) should partition the motorway to reduce the number of accidents at the Ngata Bridge, a well-known blackspot that has claimed many lives.
Their call came two days after three RVIST students died in a 5am road crash at the bridge when a town service matatu carrying them was rammed by a lorry heading towards Nakuru.
“Just one week since we celebrated the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, we have lost three students through a hit-and-run incident,” Mr Kiptanui said.
“As an institution, we are saddened by the loss of our comrades. We have lost young souls who were promising and bright. We plead with Kenha to partition the road, just like they did to Salgaa and since then there has been a big improvement on that stretch.”
He said the three students were among a group of 20 returning from an overnight intercampus modelling event that was held in Paprigano in Milimani, Nakuru city.
He said Andrew Oyaro, the 2022/2023 Mr RVIST, studying plumbing had been invited to the event and the others had accompanied him to cheer him up.
He said the other two were Kelvin Kariuki, a survey student, and Nickson Ameja, who was studying accountancy. Two other students had alighted the vehicle before the incident occurred, including the 2022/2023 Miss RVIST.
He said 14 injured students were rushed to Nakuru Level Five Hospital. Some were treated and discharged, while others were still in the hospital in a stable condition.
Mr Kiptanui urged the National Transport Authority (NTSA) to make sure vehicles on Kenya’s roads are roadworthy, adding that town service matatus on the Ngata-Sobea road need to be inspected.
In April 2017, six family members died in Sobea when a matatu carrying them was hit by a trailer en route back to Ol Kalou in Nyandarua County. Two other members suffered serious injuries in the crash.
In August 2018, a 14-seater matatu heading to Nakuru from Eldoret rammed a truck coming from Nakuru in the same Sobea area, killing four people and injuring eight others.
Former Chief Justice David Maraga and his wife were rushed to War Memorial Hospital in Nakuru on December 22, 2018 after a speeding vehicle hit his car head-on at the same spot.
