Tough measures by Transport Ministry to curb road madness

Acting Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has asked the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to provide criteria for re-registration of all driving schools in order to weed out bogus ones and curb road carnage.

CS Matiang’i blamed Judiciary for letting  guilty traffic officers carry on with their duties freely, despite being found guilty of  corruption.

He strongly insisted that such charades will not see the light of day under his watch.

Meanwhile, the Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary James Macharia has ordered NTSA to revoke licences of drivers found flouting traffic laws in move to limit the rising number of road accidents.

He attributed the series of accidents that have happened in the past two weeks, and  have drawn a sharp focus on road safety, to careless driving

The CS said the ministry will open a hotline [phone]) that will be accessible to the public to report any cases of careless driving on the Kenyan roads.

Macharia added that the construction of the 10km dual carriage way along the Salgaa stretch will end by February 2018. The stretch has turned into a death trap. Statistics from NTSA indicate the section is the most dangerous in Kenya.

A brief prepared by the Authority shows details of how the otherwise perfect section of the highway claims more lives than any other.

Nakuru County reported the second highest level of fatalities in 2016, after Nairobi which has higher pedestrian deaths, along the highway commonly referred to as the Northern Corridor.

“This will greatly aid in reducing the number of crashes in the subject area especially the often high-fatality head-on collisions,” said Duncan Kibogong, NTSA deputy director in charge of safety, on the need to make the road a dual carriage.

NTSA reports that a third of all crashes along the 940 kilometre-road from Mombasa to Busia happen in Nakuru, one of the ten counties that the Northern Corridor touches.