Murkomen: Police and NTSA to intensify night patrols and random checks in push to save lives

Transport Cabinet Secretary, Kipchumba Murkomen, has said the police and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) are set to intensify night enforcement and random checks on major highways, especially black spots. 

Murkomen, who addressed the media on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, attributed the rising cases of road accidents to recklessness, including drivers parking vehicles on highways, speeding and vehicles not being fitted with speed limiters. 

He thus ordered the law enforcers to remove stalled vehicles from highways at the owner’s cost.

Other directives issued by Murkomen, who was accompanied by the Inspector General of Police (IG), Japhet Koome, included: 

School transportation 

All public schools were directed to present their vehicles for inspection to assess their mechanical soundness and their speed limit functionality by May 1, 2024

“School transport and vehicles carrying children are further restricted to operating between 6 am and 7 pm,” Murkomen ordered. 

Speed Limit

The CS ordered all motorists to comply with the standard maximum speed limit immediately. 

He directed law enforcers to ensure speed limiters fitted on PSVs and commercials are functional, and store and transport data to NTSA every 5 minutes. 

All institutions and companies were ordered to present their vehicles for compliance checks with relevant speed limiter vendors within 14 days, lest their NTSA-issued license be invalidated

All PSVs and commercial vehicles with a tare weight of 3,048 and above must be presented for compliance checks with the relevant speed limiter vendors in 30 days or risk losing their NTSA-issued licenses. 

He further ordered the immediate suspension of speed limiter vendors with low performance in speed management. The vendors were barred from fitting new limiter gadgets until an assessment being conducted by NTSA is completed. 

“They, however, will be expected to maintain 100 per cent compliance on vehicles already fitted with their limiters,” Murkomen said. 

Assessment of PSV routes

NTSA was ordered to immediately stop issuing new PSV operator routes and review existing ones. The authority will only issue new routes after reviewing and vetting operators. 

CS Murkomen also ordered the immediate suspension of the issuance of PSV short-term licences until all  PSV routes are reviewed. 

Police officers inspect incident site after a truck and two cars crashed on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway causing at least 8 casualties in Nakuru city of Kenya on December 31, 2023. (Photo: James Kamau/ANADOLU/Anadolu/AFP)

Adherence to traffic laws 

The CS ordered NTSA to impound all vehicles operating without licences and charge the owner and driver in line with the Traffic Act.

“All vehicles, including the Noahs and Toyota Wish, will be impounded if found operating without licences,” the CS warned. 

He also cited driver fatigue as a key cause of road accidents and ordered Saccos and drivers to adhere to the normal driving hours. 

“Drivers must adhere to the 8-hour driving hour regulation. Saccos whose drivers, whether they are involved in a crash or not, are found to have been on the road more than the normal hours will have their operator licence and vehicle insurance suspended,” he cautioned. 

Road users, especially passengers, were also targeted in the latest guidelines issued by the CS, who has been under pressure to crack down on traffic breakers. According to the CS, passengers are notorious for overloading and police were ordered to apprehend and charge those found breaking the law. 

“Drivers and conductors of overloaded vehicles should be detained and charged. I appeal to the Judiciary to impose the highest punishment possible to drivers, passengers, road users and riders—excess passengers are to be charged too. 

"No Kenyan is forced to board any motor vehicle. None. We force ourselves inside it. All people boarding vehicles overload it voluntarily. Forget the fact that we are saving your life. We shall charge you first so that you know your life is also public property for this country,” the CS warned. 

He also directed police to ensure boda boda riders, pillion passengers and pedestrians adhere to the Traffic Act. 

According to NTSA, pedestrians recorded the highest number of fatalities in road accidents recorded between January 1 and March 24, 2024. They accounted for 403 deaths out of the 1,090 recorded during the aforementioned period.

Deaths from motorcyclists stood at 260, 16 less than 276 recorded in the same period in 2023. 233 passengers died, a figure higher than 178 in the same period last year. 

84 drivers, 92 pillion passengers and 18 pedal cyclists also died in the period under review. 

Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen (center), Interior PS Raymond Omollo and IG Japhet Koome address the media on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. (Photo: Courtesy)