- The program will be run concurrently by the Traffic Department of the Kenya Police Service and the National Transport Safety Authority.
- CS Kindiki insisted that officers must strictly enforce the law and must also fight reported corruption on the roads.
Image: The Star
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has announced the immediate commencement of a nationwide crackdown to curb road accidents.
Speaking in Kisumu on Tuesday, the CS said the crackdown will target all unroadworthy vehicles (private, public, institutional), drivers, riders, and pedestrians.
The CS directed law enforcement agencies across the country to immediately develop and implement a nationwide program for Traffic Law enforcement to stem the devastating tide of deaths and injuries arising from road traffic accidents.
"We must obey traffic rules, we must all work together and clean our roads from all manner of rogue road users who are careless," Kindiki said.
"It's up to Kenyans to save ourselves because these deaths are too much and premature."
The program will be run concurrently by the Traffic Department of the Kenya Police Service and the National Transport Safety Authority.
CS Kindiki insisted that officers must strictly enforce the law and must also fight reported corruption on the roads.
"Any law enforcement officer engaging in corruption on the roads or elsewhere be severely punished," he said.
The CS stated that corruption was a big contributor to road traffic accidents
“People driving unroadworthy vehicles end up giving bribes and they get away without being punished and in the process we end up having these accidents," Kindiki added.
Earlier, Kindiki raised concerns over the increase in road fatalities in the country.
The CS noted that deaths from road accidents are competing with serious epidemics.
Speaking in Kisumu on Tuesday, the CS noted that deaths from road accidents are competing with those of serious epidemics.
"We had Covid-19, a terrible epidemic in two years, and the people who died out of the pandemic were over 4,000. Yet in one year alone 4,324 died out of crashes. This means that this problem is worse than the pandemics," Kindiki stated.
The Interior CS explained that road accidents are becoming a big problem and many lives are being lost across the country.
"On Monday we lost close to 20 people in separate incidents. Road accidents are becoming a major killer in our country," the CS added.
The CS said that in 2024, Kenya had 4,324 road fatalities, and in 2023 4,690 people died from the accidents.