Thika's most dangerous roads
There has been a growing concern by Thika residents over the endless accidents, some minor and others fatal, along some of the Thika streets, especially Thika-Garissa Highway and the famous Thika Superhighway. Barely a day passes without an accident reported within the perimeters of Thika sub-county.
Majority of these accidents are as a result of
human error while others are as a result of an oversight by those who were
mandated with the task of constructing these road constructions.
BLACK SPOTS
i) Thika Superhighway
Along the superhighway, accidents involving
pedestrians are the highestcompared to those involving motorised machines with
Njomoko, Witeithie, Vincentian Retreat Centre and the unmarked (or is it
illegal?) crossing into Ngoingwa from Section 9 area behind ACK Church, being
the biggest culprits.
In most of these cases, the pedestrians are to
blame for not taking that extra mile of not using the allocated footbridges.
Maybe in future, engineers should rethink over the
idea of having footbridges overpassing the highways and instead think of the
highway overpassing the footpaths (foot tunnels) where pedestrians crosswalk
under the road.
Accidents involving vehicles along this road are
mostly near TIBS as vehicles join the highway from Thika town and near the Del
Monte Shop after Blue Post as vehicles either join the highway or make a U-Turn
to come to Thika.
ii) Thika-Garissa Highway
Garissa Road is the most notorious of all. Here,
some of the black spots include (and not limited to) near Thika-Garissa Highway
and Kiandutu road Junction at Broadway High School, Bidco junction, the curve
at KVM, Engen T-junction, Cereals/Delta section, Polysack junction, BAT
T-junction, around Ananas, Stepping Stone junction in Kisii estate, the
junction into Kenya Power in Kisii estate, Kivulini/Leather Industries area,
around Salama/Muguga area and Kwa Waya in Gatuanyaga and Kilimambogo (the worst
being near the Del Monte farm area due to very dangerous potholes).
Majority of these accidents are as a result of
speeding, careless driving as well as when vehicles join or cross the highway from
the estate feeder roads. There is also
very high human traffic due to the adjacent residential estates that are densely
populated.
iii) BAT-Kiganjo Road and Engen-Kiganjo Bypass
These two roads are another menace especially due
to the high number of human traffic, bodaboda riders and PSV matatus. Due to
the limited bumps on both roads, motor vehicles and bodabodas are driven so
fast and considering that the road is relatively narrow, any obstruction would
lead to accidents.
The section between Capwell Industries and Blue
Nile Rolling Mills is a real black spot. Likewise, the section between Kamenu
and Kiganjo Corner 1 is another accident prone section.
With the big number of people maimed or killed
every day through road carnage, everyone needs to take caution and take
personal responsibility in protecting themselves. The authorities too need to
seek solutions and rectify some of the architectural lapses and oversights on
these roads in order to reduce these road accidents.
No comments: