The death toll from the September 5 crash at Mau Summit on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway has risen to seven after another victim died on Saturday.
The latest death compounded the tragedy for a family that has now lost four relatives following the crash.
But the tragedy also returns attention to one of Kenya's most heavily used transport corridors.
The Nakuru-Eldoret route carries passenger vehicles, buses, private cars and large volumes of heavy commercial traffic travelling between Nairobi, western Kenya and neighbouring countries.
Mau Summit sits on the critical Northern Corridor and has repeatedly featured in reports of serious road crashes.
Individual crashes can have different causes, however, and authorities should establish the circumstances of the September 5 collision before blame is assigned.
The broader policy question is whether enforcement, highway design, vehicle condition, driver behaviour and emergency response are keeping pace with the volume and mix of traffic using the corridor.
Kenya has spent years discussing major improvements to the Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit corridor, partly because congestion and safety have become significant economic and public-health issues.
For the seven people now reported dead, however, infrastructure debates have become a family tragedy.
The latest crash should prompt a more fundamental examination of where fatal crashes repeatedly occur and what interventions have actually reduced deaths.
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Category: News
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