There are grave risks along the Northern Bypass at the intersection with Kamiti Road (overpass). The area commonly known as Githurai 44 Bypass stage is a dangerous black spot with speeding vehicles hitting pedestrians often and in some cases leading to fatalities.
The intersection of those two major roads makes the area a major bus stop for those making connections to various parts of the city. Notably, there is also a busy murram road leading to Githurai 45 from that spot.
When you study the area, it is clear the designers of the road did not have a bus stop in mind based on the small space between the road and drainage trenches. For that reason, matatus have to share that small space with tuktuks, motorbikes and a crowd of pedestrians and commuters, especially during peak hours. Most matatus notoriously stop with half of the vehicle literally on the road. Oftentimes, you will hear loud and scary emergency hooting by trailers and lorries in risky near misses.
Surprisingly, many vehicles foolishly like to overtake at such a risky spot. Last month, a girl was hit by a Probox car in the morning as she was crossing the road on her way to school. fortunately, the driver quickly turned back and took her to the hospital; but it could have been a case of too little too late.
A few days earlier, a boda boda rider had been hit by a Kahawa West PSV bus. As it is often the case, a battalion of boda boda operators was left baying for the bus driver’s blood and threatened to reduce the bus to ashes.
It is also my appeal that the Kenya National Highways Authority to construct a bus stop or erect speed bumps and rumble strips along the stretch like it was done at Ngomongo junction a few kilometres away.
Kahawa West
