As the schools close this week which has Easter holiday at the weekend, the traffic department has embarked on operations to ensure motorists obey the traffic rules.
They reveal that, so many unroadworthy vehicles are used by people to travel upcountry thus breaking down and causing fatal accidents.
At Kwa Mathore area in Lari sub county along the Nairobi Nakuru highway, traffic officers together with the National Transport and Safety Authority, conducted a check up on Wednesday.
The traffic base commander chief inspector Abraham Kiplagat said they were also checking on those vehicles flaouting the Traffic Law Board licenses, on unroadworthy vehicles, drunkards among the public service vehicles (PSV) drivers.
He also revealed that they were also checking on PSV licenses certificates, driving licenses and even the speed governors mounted on the PSV vehicles.
“We have the Easter holiday ahead of us and schools are closing for April holiday. We have noticed that a lot of people are traveling, some motorists rush to use the unroadworthy vehicles, those even are not insured, this is against the traffic rules and cannot allow” Kiplagat said at the operation area.
“Others are being hired by students to take them in different areas, while thet TLBs do not allow them” he revealed.
However, on learning about the operation, many motorists started using rural roads in the villages of Gitithia, Escarpment, Kabunge and Matathia so as to avoid the Kwa Mathore area, where the officers were.
Passengers raised concern over the motorist’s act of avoiding inspection saying the psv’s had wasted their time.
“These PSV operators only wants to see their vehicles are moving and making a lot of money quickly but they fail to meet the other regulations. This is the reason they do not want to face the law enforcers” Martha Njoki, a trader who commutes from Rukuma trading center Kimende town daily said.
Njoki urged the police to to be tight on the traffic rules since they will reduce cases of accidents that could have been avoided.
“Some accident’s can be avoided if some vehicles are not on the roads, these operations need to be conducted at all times” she said.
While others blamed the police and the NTSA for conducting impromptu operations, ending up in inconveniencing the road users.
“We are taking some perishable farm produces to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, why conduct such an operation while will leave us wasting a lot of time looking for routes to escape being nabbed?” Simon Njenga, a trader said.
“If we waste a minute, we risk losing a flight, and we risk being left with flowers which are expensive” he complained while stuck in a traffic jam in an overcrowded road with vehicles.
Kiplagat noted that their business is to allow only the vehicles which are in good condition and being driven by qualified individuals are using the roads.
