Northern Bypass overtakes Outering as Kenya's deadliest road
Motorist queue in traffic in Marurui on the Northern Bypass Road.
Northern Bypass, Kangundo Road and Mombasa Road are among the roads that have recorded the highest number of accidents in Nairobi, data from the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) shows.
The study compiled by the roads agency between January 1 and December 31, 2022, found that the Northern Bypass is Kenya’s most dangerous road, overtaking Outering Road.
Northern Bypass starts from Ruaka on Limuru Road, overpasses Banana Road through Runda and Thome estates and then proceeds to Kahawa West and finally to Ruiru, through Kamae, where it joins the Eastern Bypass.
The data also revealed that Nairobi has the country’s highest number of dangerous roads. Of the 273 accident black-spots countrywide, more than 70 or about a quarter are in Nairobi.
NTSA said most of the fatalities occurred along Northern bypass, Kangundo road, Mombasa Road, Outering Road and Thika Superhighway.
Counties with low fatalities were Wajir and Mandera which recorded one fatal injury each.
The fatalities happened along the Haile Selassie-Railway roundabout and Riverside Drive junction.
Others are the Landhies-Kamukunji roundabout on Landhies Road, the JKIA Airport turnoff, St Teresa junction in Eastleigh, the Burma footbridge on Jogoo Road and Blue Post Bridge on Thika Super Highway.
“Nairobi County recorded the highest number of fatalities countrywide in 2022 with a total of 499 deaths. This is a slight reduction from the previous year which had 521 fatalities,” the agency said.
In terms of the road user group, the NTSA data revealed that motorcycles top the list with 1209 having died due to road crashes in the country an increase of 55 fatalities compared to 2021.
Private vehicles come in second having recorded 1104 fatalities. This was followed by commercial vehicles that saw 1079 lives lost on the road while PSV recorded 626 fatalities.
Nairobi alone claimed 499 lives which is a decrease compared to 521 in 2021.
Nairobi county was followed in road carnage by Kiambu county, which recorded 484 deaths, an increase from the previous year’s 460.
Others are Nakuru (389), Machakos (264), Murang’a (190), Meru (161), Usain Gishu (148) and Kakamega at 131.
Counties that had low fatalities in 2022 were Wajir and Mandera which recorded one fatal injury each, followed by Isiolo (5), Marsabit (10) and Lamu (14).
