Modern Coast, Guardian, Easy Coach, North Rift, Mash, Transline and Eldoret Sacco will now operate between 9pm and 6am/MIKE KARIUKI
Modern Coast, Guardian, Easy Coach, North Rift, Mash, Transline and Eldoret Sacco will now operate between 9pm and 6am.
Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau said the operators met the requirements for night travel that include hiring two drivers per bus, fresh medical tests on crew, installation of a fleet management system capable of recording speed and location of the vehicle at any time.
“For identification purposes the NTSA has issued a special license to these complaint companies and the details of their buses licensed for night travel have been issued to the police,” Kamau said.
He said NTSA was also ready to support all operators in attaining the levels of compliance required.
“The NTSA is in collaboration with the police to intensify night time patrols along all major highways to ensure that only those who have complied with the night time travel conditions and are licensed by the NTSA conduct night travel,” he said.
He told the operators issued with night time licenses to strictly comply with the conditions, pointing out that anyone caught flouting any of them shall have their licenses revoked.
Kamau said since the new requirements took effect, road traffic fatalities have reduced by 20 percent to stand at 1,113 as at May 31, 2014 compared to a similar period last year that recorded 1,387 fatalities.
Kamau also raised concerns over the increasing number of fatalities of pedestrians, motorcyclists and motorcycle passengers pointing out that these categories of users account for approximately 60 percent of total fatalities.
He says his ministry will issue new regulations targeting theses groups as well as enforcing traffic laws and regulations relating to these groups.
“We shall also involve the education of these road users through sensitisation and road awareness campaigns throughout the country. Heavy commercial vehicles have also been increasingly associated with tragic and devastating road accidents and the owners of these vehicles are hereby directed to ensure that their vehicles are fitted with the required speed governors,” he said.
According to NTSA data, in all the road accidents that occurred as at May 2014, some 2,025 people were seriously injured compared to 2,624 in same period last year while 1,393 were slightly injured in the period under review compared to 2,096 in 2013.
Of the 1,113 fatalities, 516 were pedestrians while 249 were passengers, down from last year that had 622 pedestrians and 249 passengers.
However the number of motorcyclist fatalities has increased by 2.8 percent to 145 compared to 141 last year. Pillion passengers’ fatalities have also increased by 8.8 percent to 68 from the 62 recorded last year.
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