Outering Road in Nairobi Named One of the Most Dangerous Highways in the World

Outering Road in Nairobi has been named as one of the most dangerous roads in the world during the United Nations (UN) High-Level Meeting on Global Road Safety.

Urban Mobility expert Claudia Adriazola-Steil described the 13-kilometer highway as the most unsafe road in the world in her speech during the summit held on June 30th and July 1st in New York.

“An example from Kenya, which is not the only example, around the world this happens over and over again. But there was an investment in a highway, an urban highway named Outering in Nairobi. That, in the first nine months of 2021, it ended up being the most dangerous road in the city with very (many) fatalities. Ninety percent of them were pedestrians. But this also happens in roads in Brazil…," she told the meeting.

Adriazola-Steil has worked in the transport sector for over 20 years and focuses on the intersection of sustainable mobility, climate change, public health, and equity.

A survey released by the National Transport Safety Authority (NTSA) in March this year revealed that one is more likely to die along Outering Road than on any other road in the capital.

The road, which was upgraded at a cost of Sh8.5 billion and launched in 2015, accounted for 44 of the 371 deaths recorded last year, followed closely by Waiyaki Way (38 deaths) while 29 people lost their lives along Mombasa Rd.

Last year, Embakasi West MP George Theuri urged the government to erect barricades to reduce the number of pedestrian accidents along Outering Road.

“Weekly pedestrian accidents are always reported to my office by residents with most of them faulting pedestrians who refuse to use the footbridges that have been provided for,” he said.