Kenya Moves to Ease Transport Chaos during Festive Season
Kenyan Government will allow operators of public service vehicles (PSVs) in Nairobi to acquire temporary licences to go to upcountry destinations for a month from December 15, to ease public transport pressure during the festive season
Most Kenyans travel to their rural homes to join their families for Christmas and New Year celebrations, as the number of passengers increase, leading to the double sins of inflated fares and many accidents attributed to reckless driving.
Transport Licensing Board (TLB) chairman, Wilfred Olelegei said “This will increase the safety on our roads during this festive season” ,
He added “72 Kenyans lost their lives in October alone this year because the legal notice of 2003 is no longer properly enforced”
TLB, which is only mandated to license the routes does not have the capacity to enforce the rules. Mr Olelegei said a significant number of vehicles have tampered with speed governors and in almost all the accident cases reported, speeding was a major cause
The board is meeting in Mombasa to come up with ways of addressing accidents involving PSVs and other challenges on the roads.
TLB has powers to suspend licences of offenders such as interfering with speed-governers for only three months. The Mombasa meeting is expected to come up with measures that will, among other things, restore sanity in the matatu industry.
“We shall deliberate on the TLB Act, Traffic Act and Local Authority Act to identify the loopholes that curtail our work and road safety,” Mr Olelegei said. adding that another workshop will be held with the other stakeholders in the industry.