Gov’t: Night Travel Ban Has Reduced Accidents

The ban is one of the initiatives attributed to the reduction of road carnage.

Other measures that have been introduced include introduction of breathlyzers and using of speed governors to monitor speeds on the roads.

The night travel ban on PSVs was gazetted on 17th December 2013 and was effective from 24th of the same month.

The ban prohibited night travels to all unlicenced vehicles which had to meet set conditions to obtain the night licences.

The conditions are: two drivers per PSV vehicle and ensuring that none of the drivers drives for more than 8 hours.

The regulation also ensures that each driver gets an 8 hour rest before the next shift.

Several attempts by PSV owners to have the court revoke the ban have so far not borne fruit.

The drunk-driving awareness campaign launched on 16th December last year and the effective use of breathlyzers ended with 135 motorists in Nairobi and 24 in Mombasa being arrested.

Meanwhile, the war on drunken driving got a major boost today when traffic police received two breathlyzers otherwise known as alcoblow to help fight the vice

The gadgets were provided by Lion Laboratories and Pettrmark Enterprises.

The two gadgets were also accompanied with 2 printers to the Ministry to support the ongoing efforts to make Kenyan Roads safer.

Cabinet Secretary Eng. Michael Kamau, has said that National Transport and Safety Authority has acquired 16 more breathlyzers.

The breathlyzers will be introduced in Nakuru, Eldoret, Kisumu, Nyeri, Kakamega, Meru, Kisii, Machakos and Thika.

He also added that drunk driving will not be tolerated.

Other initiatives to be employed for the same cause include; developing standard curriculum for drivers, streamlining inspection and certification of vehicles to eradicate corruption, revised standards to govern the building of PSVs, and creation of County Transport and Safety Committees.

The minister called on more private entities to partner with the ministry in working toward reducing fatalities to less than 2000 this year.

By Diana Kariuki