A school bus which was involved in an accident last Saturday, killing three pupils and seriously injuring four others was compliant with traffic regulations, road safety officials have said.

The bus belonging to Maadili Schools in Juja, Kiambu County, overturned at Gitugi area in Murang’a County as it was transporting pupils from a scouting event in Nyeri. It overturned after the driver reportedly failed to negotiate a road bend.

Road Safety Association of Kenya Chairman David Kiarie and his Speed Governors and Road Safety Association counterpart Edward Gitonga visited the school and gave its fleet of seven buses a clean bill of health, saying an inspection of the vehicle showed they had met the safety standards.

The officials also called on the relevant authorities to enforce a requirement that vehicles transporting school children should not be on the roads after 6:00 pm to safeguard their safety.

“We would rather have parents spending more money on accommodation of their children, rather than subjecting them to situations that could lead to possible loss of lives through accidents,” Gitonga said.

At the same time, Kiarie called on the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to fit all major roads with cat-eye studs to make road markings more visible, especially at night.

He said statistics show that most accidents occur at night between 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm, hence the need to install the reflector gadgets on roads.

Kiarie also appealed to the government to implement the new speed system which uses a thermo printer to show compliance.

“We have introduced special stickers that ensure control of vehicle speed is not interfered with and we are training police and NTSA officials on its implementation,” Kiarie stated.

Gitonga, on his part, said drivers of public service vehicles (PSVs) should avoid using shortcut routes and stick to main roads, noting that it would have been safer for the school bus driver to use the Nyeri-Kenol highway rather than the Nyoka Nyoka road on which the accident occurred.