Government asleep as road carnage piles up

The increased number of road accidents could easily be blamed on the police, but the problem is bigger. We have a Transport Ministry that has failed dismally to provide policy direction on public service vehicles. The last time the ministry was active in this area was during the tenure of the late John Michuki.

Since then, vested interests in Government with tentacles in the matatu industry have blocked attempts to re-introduce the tough measures that restored some level of sanity to the public transport sector.

One of the bigger problems is the fragmentation of the transport industry. We have the Kenya Roads Board overseeing the national road infrastructure, the Transport Licensing Board, Motor Vehicle Inspection Unit, Registrar of Motor Vehicles, Driving Test Centre, Traffic Police, and local authorities.

Too many cooks
These are all housed under different ministries making proper co-ordination a nightmare and entrenching the corruption that is largely responsible for the high number of deaths and injuries on our roads.

Owners of matatus are also absentee operators who have given up the management of their fleet to organised criminal gangs. Their drivers have never attended refresher courses and many obtained their licenses fraudulently.

There is a Traffic Bill awaiting approval. Although noble, it is full of draconian clauses that conflict with the Bill of Rights in the Constitution. One of them is life imprisonment for causing an accident that results in loss of life.

If and when it does become an Act of Parliament, it is hoped that drivers and pedestrians alike would be more disciplined. In the meantime, however, it is a fallacy to suggest there is nothing the Government can do within the current laws to halt the escalating road carnage.

It is all very well to have stronger laws, but the real change must come from drivers of public service vehicles and their passengers. The psychology of numbers rules in the PSV sector, an industry that subscribes to the law of the jungle. 

As far as we know, the legal requirement that matatus have speed governors remains on the statute books. But today there is not a single matatu in which the device is working.

Most have either removed it altogether, or simply deactivated the same. They also carry excess number of passengers with abandon and most have no functioning seat belts.

Unfortunately this jungle mentality is not restricted to matatu drivers and touts. Passengers, too, adopt a heard mentality and will keep quiet even when they realise the driver is breaking the law. Not only that, but many Kenyans do not cringe at jumping into an overloaded matatu.

Overloading
You have a right to stop a driver who is speeding above the required limit and to report him to the police.

In the rural towns, the Toyota Probox is prominent in this respect with passengers packed to the rafters in a vehicle meant to carry five people and cargo. In the event of an accident, their survival rate is most often zero.

Any changes to the Traffic Act must include penalties for those who willingly board matatus as excess passengers.

And on most of the major highways, the popular minivan-type of matatus speed at no less than 100km per hour, but account for the highest number of fatal accidents.

Most matatu drivers who break the law get off by bribing the police. PSV drivers with a record of accidents have been issued with certificates of good conduct after paying bribes.

The Ministry of Transport must immediately insist on full implementation of the rule on speed governors and wearing of safety belts in matatus as the minimum requirement for PSVs.

Furthermore, there should be tighter regulation of driving schools to ensure they meet international standards. But that will not be enough without stamping out corruption in issuance of driving licences.