BY NYANZA NEWS REPORTER
Masara town residents in Migori county demonstrated over reckless driving by lorries along the busy Migori-Muhuru Bay which connects the country to Tanzania.
Carrying twigs and placards with messages against the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), residents said they need urgent intervention to help curb road carnages resulting from reckless drivers.
Led by Valentine Ogongo a local businessperson, residents claimed that they lose up to six people in a week, adding that some months they lose an average of 24 people in month.
“I have been in this town for over a decade now and I can attest that we lose roughly six to seven people in a week as most accidents involve bodaboda riders, pedestrians and a truck driven at high speed on this road; this is worrying,” lamented Ogongo.
The call follows a series of fatal accidents that have occurred along the route in the recent past and which have claimed the lives of many people as well as maimed uncountable number of other residents.
“In the most recent case a man and his son died after being hit by a speeding truck, a third victim, who is the dead man’s wife, fighting for her life at Migori County Referral Hospital,” Ogongo said.
The accident sparked a day-long demonstration from the residents who came out in large numbers to express their anger mainly at truck drivers, who they accused of being the most dangerous drivers along the road.
The group who blocked the road with boulders and lit bonfires urged the government and especially the NTSA to take immediate action to tame the reckless drivers and erect bumps along the ever-busy road.
“We want the Lorries flouting the road safety regulations to be impounded and their drivers arrested to be a lesson to other motorists operating along this route and save lives of the local people,” said Collins Otieno.
Residents said they will continue to riot over accidents and block the road and bring the busy road into a lockdown.
He called on the local traffic police to do serious inspection on truck drivers using the route, suspecting that majority are not trained to drive such heavy vehicles and hence they cause accidents.
“I call upon the traffic officers along this road to come and do thorough inspection and weed out quack drivers operating along this road,” Otieno pleaded.
Moreover, he called on the county government through the department of youths to conduct training on road safety to the youths in the area and help them secure valid driving license.
Masaka Steven, another resident of the town, blamed the tipper drivers for overlooking other road users like pedestrians and riders.
He said that the drivers do not consider their existence and hence knock them down unnecessarily while failing to adhere to all traffic rules.
He blamed the laxity of the traffic police for failure to enforce strict adherence to law, where most drivers are not authorized to drive but are allowed to operate the truck.
