The dangerous highway from Nairobi to Mau Summit
Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit Highway is a paved highway in Kenya. The main hazards on this road are drink-driving, poor road conditions, and roaming animals. It was recently repaved in an effort to stem road traffic accidents (as it was pretty dangerous before). Sadly, this didn't stop the crashes.
How long is the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway?
The road, officially called A104 (also known as Nakuru Road), is totally paved. It’s 207km (128 miles) long, running from Mau Summit (a town in Nakuru County) to Nairobi (the capital and largest city of Kenya), via Nakuru (the 4th largest city in the country).
Why is the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway so dangerous?
This road is particularly used to transport goods imported. Unlike most dangerous roads, it's not the road conditions but the drivers that are the main hazard on the highway. After the new resurfacing, drivers saw the smooth road as more of a raceway and now speeding is a massive problem. So are pedestrians walking across the speeding traffic. The highway is notorious for drink-driving combined with speeding, poor overtaking, and pedestrians in the road which resulted in 320 deaths on the highway in one year alone.
How deadly is the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway?
The road is listed among the most dangerous roads in the world and has been cited as one of the world’s most unsafe roads that are prone to accidents. The main risks are lack of barriers, poor conditions of vehicles, poor driving techniques, and weather as major causes of road accidents on the busy highway. This road is mainly dangerous because of driver error and a lack of traffic law enforcement. Defensive driving lessons could make this road much safer, but it is still risky. Recently, the Kenyan Government has begun to crack down on drink driving which has previously been a huge problem. Africa is the world’s most dangerous region for traffic fatalities with 24.1 deaths per 100,000 populations in 2010.