A travel influencer’s recent night-time encounter on the Nairobi-Mombasa highway has once again thrown a harsh spotlight on the dangers posed by some Tahmeed buses.
The video, widely shared online, shows a Tahmeed coach cutting sharply in front of another vehicle, braking suddenly, then mirroring every attempt to change lanes. At one point the bus veered toward oncoming traffic and nearly struck a lorry.
The driver of the smaller vehicle later said the bus almost finished them that night and that this madness must be stopped.
This was not an isolated moment of poor judgement. The same influencer revealed he had already complained to the company after earlier experiences, yet little appeared to change.
Across Kenyan highways, similar stories keep surfacing. Drivers of these long-distance coaches have been filmed racing trucks, overtaking on continuous yellow lines, and forcing other motorists off the road.
In one earlier case that went viral, a Tahmeed bus competed for space with a heavy lorry at high speed while another vehicle sat broken down nearby. The National Transport and Safety Authority ordered the driver to undergo a retest, but public anger remains high.
The pattern is hard to ignore. In July this year a Tahmeed bus was involved in a multi-vehicle crash near Konza that left six people dead, including the bus driver.
Months earlier, another of the company’s coaches burst into flames after its rear tyres reportedly failed near Voi, forcing dozens of passengers to scramble for safety.
Separate incidents have seen buses scrape trucks, roll backwards after brake failure, and collide with matatus, leaving passengers injured.
NTSA once suspended 23 Tahmeed drivers in a single enforcement sweep after finding widespread problems with speeding and unsafe driving.
These are not just statistics. Every time a bus carrying more than 40 people is driven with such aggression, the lives of those passengers and everyone else on the road hang in the balance.
Families waiting at bus stations for loved ones to arrive safely are left wondering whether the next trip will end in another tragedy. Motorists who share the same highways must constantly watch for sudden lane changes and aggressive manoeuvres that turn ordinary journeys into near-misses.
Road safety campaigners and ordinary Kenyans have repeatedly called for stricter oversight. NTSA has urged the public to report number plates, locations and times of reckless driving so action can be taken. Yet videos continue to appear.
Company statements often express sorrow after crashes and promise cooperation with investigations, but the same questions return: how many warnings does it take before real change happens?
How many near collisions and actual fatalities will be accepted before drivers who treat highways like race tracks are permanently removed?
Kenya’s roads already claim too many lives each year. Long-distance buses should be among the safest vehicles on those roads, not the ones that leave other drivers shaking and passengers praying. When a coach full of people is allowed to cut, brake and weave in the dark, the message is clear: the lives of road users are being put at unnecessary risk.
Until the company and regulators treat these repeated incidents with the seriousness they demand, the fear that travels with every Tahmeed bus will remain justified.
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