Many Nakuru residents’ lives have been lost through reckless driving by the boda boda operators since the onset of this year.
The huge number of boda bodas in Nakuru County has been blamed for the increase in number of accidents.
Addressing the press on Wednesday morning at Nakuru town, Rift Valley traffic commandant Mary Omari said that most bodaboda riders have no driving licenses and do not obey traffic rules either through ignorance or lack of information.
“Almost 50 percent of accidents we have recorded in the county since the beginning of the year involved boda bodas and in most cases the riders were the cause of the accidents. Majority of those who died were passengers on boda bodas or pedestrians who were knocked by boda boda riders or the riders themselves,” said Omari.
Omari said that his officers will not relent in their mission of instilling discipline among boda boda operators and called on them to obey traffic rules or quit the business.
“I don’t want to be coming here to announce the number of deaths we have recorded each month and I don’t want Nakuru to remain as the county with the second highest number of road accidents,” she said.
She noted that if the boda boda riders don’t change then most of them will be forced to look for something else they can do because officers are under instructions to make sure that sanity is restored among the riders.
According to the statistics released by the Ministry of Transport on Monday Nakuru County registered the second highest number of road accidents and related deaths in the month of January after Nairobi County.