New gadget to determine commercial vehicles’ speed for the last 72 hours

Police will now detect the speed of public service and commercial vehicles in the last 72 hours using a newly acquired gadget.

According to National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) Director of Motor Vehicle Inspection Engineer Gerald Wangai, the Universal Policing Unit Gadget has been piloted leading to arrest of several drivers found to have tampered with their speed governors.

Wangai says they have already carried out a pilot on the Nakuru-Nairobi highway where commercial vehicles were found to have been speeding or having faulty speed governors.

Early this month, NTSA asked matatu owners to be conversant with rule and regulations governing the transport sector to avoid being caught contravening the law.

Speaking during a one-on one-session with Matatu operators, NTSA Director General Francis Mejja said most matatu operators have found themselves on the wrong side of the law due to ignorance of the regulations governing the industry.

In October last year, the transport body had expressed concerns over the rising number of fatal accidents caused by private vehicles, saying there had been a 5 per cent increase in 2015 compared to 2014.

NTSA attributed the increase in number of accidents to human error, speeding, overtaking, drunk driving and the use undesignated areas to drop passengers.