How NTSA plans to deal with speeding motorists

NAIROBI, KENYA: Are you one of those motorists who accelerates whenever you are flagged to stop for speeding?
Well, you better style up.

The transport authority has come up with a new method of 'naming and shaming' such types of motorists who flout the traffic rules and vanish.

In the new method, when you are stopped by a traffic marshal do yourself a favour and stop.

Failure to do so and your details and that of your car will be circulated in the mainstream media demanding that you avail yourself at the nearest National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) offices.

This is what happened to 13 motorists who preferred to speed off despite being flanked by NTSA traffic officers.

In the list published, the authority identify the motorists, their vehicles, area of where they were flagged and the speed exceeded.

"The following motor vehicles were found speeding above the prescribed speed limit during NTSA operations.Registered owners are therefore required to present themselves to the nearest NTSA office within the next seven days," read the notice signed Director General.

"Yes, this is a new mode of operation to ensure that motorists police themselves. You do not have to be stopped by an enforcement officer for the offence of speeding," explained NTSA Ms Dido Guyatu Deputy Director in charge of communication.

Ms Dido said the 13 culprits failed to stop during the enforcement operations and so the authority had to resort to other means.

Dido said during enforcement, private motorists are usually the most challenging 'who assume that they can practice impunity on the road' and get away with it.

"Percentage of fatalities caused by private motorists' stands at 29 per cent," she added.

Most crashes, she said, are as a result of speeding; either directly or indirectly: "Speeding is considered a human factor and contributes to 90 per cent of fatalities in Kenya today."