This is how we shall tame the madness on our roads

By Michael Kamau

I enjoy my work. Occasionally, however, tragedy intervenes, as during the fire at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

But not even that tragedy, terrible as it was, begins to match the sheer horror of learning about yet another accident on our roads. I can tell you from experience that not even a decades-long tenure in public service can prepare you for the shock of hearing that children have perished in yet another accident on our roads. The recent death of six primary school children in Kakamega was particularly horrifying.

What is, perhaps, worst about deaths by road accidents is their suddenness and violence, and the trauma and sense of loss they leave behind. In truth there is a good case for adding our deaths by road accident to the count we make every year of violent deaths.

One begins to appreciate the scale of the loss when one remembers that for every fatality, an average of 10 others are injured. We simply cannot afford to lose 3,000 of our people annually; we simply cannot afford to add 30,000 Kenyans a year to our list of wounded. Road safety must become part of our DNA, and quickly.

My ministry and the national government, have been aware of these facts and their implications. A number of policies have been revised, and new ones introduced, or contemplated for introduction.

Contrary to popular opinion, we did not ban night travel. Rather, in recognition of the toll that night time accidents had begun to take on Kenyan lives, we introduced a number of new conditions that had to be met by transport firms who wished to continue to work at night. We insisted that drivers could drive no more than four hours at night. We also demanded that each company which wished to conduct night time travel would have to fit a monitoring system for each vehicle.

The information for each vehicle — its location and speed at any given time — would be made available to the Ministry of Transport.  Transporters who meet these conditions will be free to conduct their business at night.

The fact of the matter is that these are proportionate responses to the crisis we face on our roads, and especially the crisis that afflicts. They may seem harsh, but the time for their enforcement is now with us. Although we cannot completely eliminate road accidents, a second raft of measures is soon to come into force, in the hope of drastically reducing them.

The first is that we will soon switch over to a new form of driving license. Under the new rules, drivers will have points on their driving licenses. New drivers will start with no points at all. If they are involved in accidents, crashes, or any other form of culpable misconduct while driving, they will have points added to their license.

Those who gather a certain number of points will have their licenses revoked; repeat offenders will have their licenses revoked altogether. A similar system has worked well in a number of other countries, among them the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany. We are not reinventing the wheel.

I will also propose to the relevant authorities that the causing of death by dangerous driving should now be presumed to be murder or manslaughter, unless reasons for believing the contrary can be shown. That, at least, will be my proposal.

In addition, even for drivers who have not committed any traffic offences, there will be compulsory retesting. The aim here is purely preventive. This will allow us to catch bad, careless or incompetent drivers even before they cause other road users harm.

In both those cases, and in those sufficiently similar, the licenses of drivers involved should be suspended, at a minimum, and preferably revoked. I also intend to bring in speed governors. The directive will take effect on the April 15th. As I had earlier announced, there will also be new number-plates issued, with additional security features, which will include data specific to the car on which they are fitted.

Let me also mention a number of other matters. We are looking at introducing a law of restitution – you will pay for damage to infrastructure caused by your car.

If you hit an electric pole, or damage a guard-rail with your car, then you will be held liable for the damage. Equally, all public service and heavy commercial vehicles with tare weight of 3.8 tons or more will now be required to fit speed governors. These measures are firm. They must be, if we are to end the madness on our roads.