NTSA urges drivers to observe lane discipline amid surging road carnage
By Faith Lagat, December 15, 2025The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has renewed its appeal to motorists to strictly observe lane discipline as the country records a worrying surge in road accidents during the festive season.
In a message shared on December 15, 2025, NTSA stressed that keeping to one’s lane, maintaining consistent road positioning and avoiding unnecessary weaving are critical to improving safety for all road users.
“Staying in your lane, keeping consistent positioning, and avoiding unnecessary weaving helps improve safety for everyone on the road,” read NTSA X post dated December 15, 2025.
The warning comes at a time when traffic volumes have increased sharply, with holiday travel placing extra pressure on major highways and urban roads.
Data from NTSA paints a grim picture. By early December 2025, at least 4,458 people had lost their lives in road crashes, surpassing the 4,311 fatalities recorded during the same period last year. Pedestrians remain the most affected, followed closely by motorcyclists, passengers and drivers.
Authorities attribute the spike to a combination of factors, including speeding, poor overtaking, narrow road sections and general indiscipline, especially during peak travel hours.
Recent crashes raise alarm
The urgency of NTSA’s appeal is underscored by a series of recent accidents. In the early hours of Monday, December 15, 2025, seven passengers were injured after an Easy Coach bus rammed into a stalled lorry at Ngata along the busy Nakuru–Eldoret highway at around 3 a.m.
County traffic police enforcement officer Ogola confirmed that the lorry is believed to have developed mechanical problems before stalling on the road.
Although no fatalities were reported, the injured passengers were rushed to the hospital for treatment. Ogola urged drivers to exercise extra caution on the corridor, citing heavy traffic and narrow road sections that require reduced speeds.
Just two days earlier, on December 13, 2025, former Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo died in a head-on collision at Karai along the Nairobi–Nakuru highway.
The 64-year-old was driving a Mercedes-Benz towards Nairobi when it collided with a Climax Coaches bus carrying more than 60 passengers.
The crash occurred around 3 a.m., with preliminary reports indicating that an overtaking manoeuvre may have contributed to the collision. Jirongo died on the spot, while the bus passengers sustained minor injuries or escaped unharmed.
Festive travel heightens risk
Several other deadly crashes this year have highlighted persistent safety challenges on Kenyan roads.
These include a multi-vehicle pile-up at Moi’s Bridge on the Kitale–Eldoret highway on December 10, a tragic accident in Sango village, Kakamega County, on December 1 that claimed nine lives, and the September Kariandusi crash on the Nairobi–Nakuru highway that wiped out more than a dozen family members.
Additional incidents have involved vehicles plunging off bridges in Gatanga and Nithi, rain-related skids in Nyandarua and collisions at railway crossings in Naivasha.