Pedestrians knocked while crossing the road from undesignated areas along the yet to be completed Thika superhighway will not be compensated Ruiru deputy police boss Joseph Arasa revealed on Monday.
The police boss who was addressing a Government Departmental heads meeting at Ruiru town said that the number of road users being knocked dead by over speeding vehicles while crossing from undesignated areas keeps on soaring and now stands at 88 since the beginning of the year and 200 from the time the construction started 3 years ago.
Arasa pointed out that carelessness from pedestrians and total disregard to service lanes and overpass bridges designed for them was to blame for the fatalities recorded so far and plans were under-way criminalize careless road crossing once the super-highway is marked and completed.
Addressing the same meeting, the area District Commissioner Erastus Mbui pointed out that every day 2 pedestrians die after being knocked while crossing the superhighway and urgent measures need to be taken to tame any further loss of life.
He challenged the traffic police officers in the area to be vigilant in ensuring road safety and strict adherence to traffic rules. He said that with the installation of CCTV surveillance cameras traffic officers should be able to nab drivers contravening traffic rules without much trouble.
The administrator called on traffic police officers to desist from creating unnecessary snarl ups on the highway by erecting uncalled for road blocks especially once the road is completely marked as doing so creates unnecessary jams and it creates an opportunity for corruption.
He also directed the Ruiru Municipal Council to remove hawkers selling wares along the service lanes terming them a danger to road users. He cited the Githurai bus park as a notorious point where hawkers cause congestion and uncalled for accidents.
Mbui said that though the hawkers claim to have acquired operation licenses from the local Council, it was wrong for them to operate from the road sides.
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