Traffic rules governing the installation of the new speed governors to be gazetted immediately

Kenya Roads Safety Association (KRSA) wants the traffic rules governing the installation of the new speed governors to be gazetted immediately.

The group says that the speed governors currently being used by the Public Service Vehicles (PSV) are illegal and should be degazetted if road carnage is to be reduced.

Led by the KRSA Chairman Chrispinus Kinene, the group wants the government to reduce road carnage that continues to end lives of majority of Kenyans daily, or else they sue traffic police officers who allow over speeding vehicles beyond the stipulated 80 kilometres per hour.

Kinene says that the speed governors currently fitted to the PSV vehicles do not meet the standards as envisioned in the rules of the speed governors adopted in 2011.

“The only way we can reduce the number of deaths on our roads is to degazette the speed governors and adopt the new ones which have been approved,” said Kinene.

In an interview with the Standard yesterday, Kinene said that the yet to be fitted speed governors have recorders and are tamper-proof to switching on and off that are still being used.

Kinene says the governor is programmed to stop a moving vehicle if it is tampered with and the recording device will enumerate the vehicle’s speed within 72 hours.

The device also has a recording programme where speed limits are taken down for a number of hours and police and vehicle owners can use this as a reference point.

Flanked by the association’s treasurer David Kiarie, the new speed governors have undergone various trials by both the private and public sectors and certified by Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) to be compatible with PSVs.

The association officials explained that even with the newly implemented CCTV cameras and traffic lights on the roads, the speed governor is most geared towards reducing road carnage.

The duo explained that apart from the new governors, the association has also established its own independent group of investigators that once an accident occurs, will investigate the matter and prefer charges against the offender on the spot or within 24 hours.

“We already have competent investigators in place that once an accident has occurred, will prefer charges against those responsible for the deaths,” added Kinene.

Over 9,000 people are maimed for life annually, 26,000 vehicles and other property destroyed annually and billions of shillings spent on hospital bills and funeral expenses.

Mr Kinene observed that some of the vehicles illegally emit heavy obnoxious petrol or diesel fumes, public service vehicles without speed governors, vehicles without identification number plates are habitually used in Kenya roads.

The speed governors were fitted in 2004 together with seat belts in public service vehicles under rules meant to introduce order in commuter services.

But lack of law enforcement of the regulations commonly known as the “Michuki rules” has seen disorder return to commuter services.