NTSA bans long distance night travel, Matatau lobby protests

The Matatu Owners Association Chairman Simon Kimutai (PHOTO: FILE)

NAIROBI, KENYA: Matatu Owners Association has disagreed with the National Transport and Safety Authority over new directive banning long distance night travels by public service vehicles.

The Association chairman Simon Kimutai said there ought to have been engagement on the specific time when long distance public service vehicles need to be banned from the roads.

"I agree that most accidents occur due to fatigue but there needs to be engagement on time when such vehicles need to be stopped from ferrying passengers," he said.

In a statement, the National Transport and Safety Authority restricted long- distance travel from 6 am to 7 pm making it illegal for commuters to travel at night by the public service vehicles. The Matatu Owners Association through Mr Kimutai, however, said the travel time needed to be reviewed and allowed between 5 am and 10.30 pm.

The NTSA made the announcement following Sunday bus-truck collision at Migaa area along the infamous Nakuru-Eldoret road claiming over 30 lives, leaving scores others injured.

The Authority said most of the accidents occur at night prompting the decision to ban passenger service vehicles from ferrying commuters at night.

"Over the recent past, our records indicate that majority of crashes occur during the night. In order to review the effectiveness of the current measures in place to improve road safety, the Authority in consultation with relevant government agencies hereby suspends night travel for all long distance public service vehicles from December 31," said NTSA in a statement.

Mr Kimutai  also called on road engineers to re-design the Nakuru-Eldoret road along the Salgaa stretch to prevent numerous accidents along the highway.

"It can't be that all accidents mostly happen around Salgaa area and nothing is done to address the situation. Engineers need to study the stretch and come up with long-lasting solution even if it means constructing a dual carriage way," he noted.

He further called on NTSA to work with traffic police officers in order to have a meaningful impact on road safety. He said as currently constituted, the authority had no meaningful powers to enforce safety on Kenyan roads.

A similar directive banning long distance travel on passenger service vehicles was issued in 2013. It followed a grisly road accident that claimed 18 people when two buses collided head-on along the busy Mombasa-Nairobi highway.