How drunk pedestrians risk life and limb at this stretch

NextGen Mall along Mombassa Road on 1st September 2018, it is difficult for pedestrians to cross road during the night. [Edward Kiplimo,Standard]

Were it not for a distress call sent at 4am by a friend after he had been run over by several vehicles near NextGen Mall on Mombasa Road, Stephen Mboya’s death would have passed like any other.

“An accident opposite NextGen Mall. A friend hit by a vehicle. Emergency service needed urgently. The remains are still on the road,” tweeted Justus Kioko on July 21 after his calls to the police went unanswered.

On that fateful morning, they were drinking with friends until about 3am.

When Mboya wanted to leave, the taxi driver who was supposed to pick him up asked him to cross over to the other side of Mombasa Road so that he did not have to go all the way to General Motors to turn.

“Like 10 minutes after he had left the restaurant, we were told that there had been an accident and it was our friend,” Kioko recalls.

Stand on the road

“He had been run over by several vehicles and his body was crushed. We had to stand in the middle of the road to stop other vehicles from running over him. All the calls I made were not answered and that is why I decided to tweet.”

With its not less than seven pubs and clubs, NextGen Mall has in just one year transformed itself into the ultimate hang out joint in the city. Two other clubs are opposite the mall.

But as the drinks flow and music plays at these locations every night, the grim reaper is always lurking outside, waiting for those going home. Police records show at least one person is run over every Saturday and Sunday morning when people who have been drinking during the night are trooping home.

Last month, the country was treated to drama involving a prison officer who had run over a university student and drove on with her body on the bonnet for three kilometres before dropping it and escaping.

Maureen Wambui’s story also followed a similar script to Mboya’s.

“We left the mall at around 4am on Sunday. We jumped over a trench outside the mall but Maureen insisted on walking on the main path. I waited for her so that we would cross the road and as she stepped on the tarmac I decided to follow her but before I could make any step, I saw a red car at very high speed hit her,” the victim’s boyfriend Dennis Waweru told the media after the accident.

With the nearest footbridge a kilometre away at Bellevue and a zebra crossing 600 metres on the opposite side at Parkside Plaza (Airtel headquarters), pedestrians leaving or coming to these entertainment joints and shopping mall in most cases risk being run over by running across the highway. Those driving have a short 260 metres to accelerate and cross three lanes in order to make it to the J-turn if they are outbound. While some make it, others do not.

Navin Shah, the proprietor of NextGen Mall did not respond when we asked him if he was concerned about the accidents outside the mall.

Delvin Wainaina, who sells fruits outside the mall, says he cannot recall the number of accidents he has either heard of or witnessed on that stretch of Mombasa Road.

“It is like every day there is an accident here. The road has a bend on all sides and then you have people crossing,” he says. “It is worse at night because those who cross are mostly drunk and the drivers too are drunk.”

The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has promised to look into the anomaly and engage the Kenya National Highways Authority (KENHA) on the matter.

“If the acceleration lane is too short for people to make a turn then the recommendation will be to close that turn. Remember we did the same at Weston Hotel and it worked,” Francis Meja, NTSA’s director general, said.

“It is safer for people to drive for a longer distance before turning but most importantly it is safest for people not to drink and attempt to cross the road or drive home.”