Why road safety experts want bodaboda, PSV driver training placed under NYS

David Kiarie, the chairman of the Kenyan Road Safety Association, claims that the National Transport Safety Authority's (NTSA) current training program is insufficient to ensure that drivers are driving responsibly on Kenyan roads.

On Wednesday, Kiarie said during a segment of Citizen TV's Daybreak Show that they are advocating for the government to implement the change to make sure that qualified drivers are operating the vehicle.

"If we need our roads to be safe we must make sure that we have competent drivers. Those driving should be properly trained,' he said.

"Why can't we remove the licenses from NTSA, we don't want to hear licenses coming from there. Why can't we give this business of training these people carrying passengers to the National Youth Service," he added.

"If we can say that all bodaboda riders must go through NYS for discipline because road safety, discipline is a must, to make sure that they are properly trained." 

Mr. Kiarie emphasized that Kenyan drivers' disregard for traffic laws and their habit of breaking them is to blame for the sharp rise in accidents that is seen in the nation every year.

"The only thing we need in this country is enforcement. We have enough policies and laws but we lack enforcement. This is why you see an increase the numbers of road accidents. We need to change our culture or road safety. We should respect the traffic rules."

Kennedy Onyango, secretary general of the Bodaboda Safety Association of Kenya (BAK), said in the same interview that the NTSA has been compromised by dishonest Kenyans who issue fake licenses to unqualified drivers, making it impossible to control the rogue drivers.

Onyango pointed out that a long-term fix is required to enforce current regulations and stop the country's rising rate of traffic accidents.

"In this country, the access to vital documents to be on the road is as cheap as walking to Riveroad and get them. NTSA's system is so porous it becomes very difficult," he said.

"We need to be consistent on how we are doing things, most times you find government officials address there issues of road carnage in a kind of a knee-jerk reaction. When something happens that is when you will see them reacting."

This lies on the backdrop of a report by NTSA which revealed that 4,103 people have died in road accidents nationwide as of November of this year, according to their preliminary statistics.

The toll being an increase from 3,947 fatalities that occurred last year.

NTSA indicated that the highest number of fatalities, 1,486, involved pedestrians. Motorcyclists came in second, with 1,085 fatalities. 

During the same period 721 passengers, 378 drivers, 377 pillion passengers, and 56 cyclists have also died. 

A total of 8,371 have suffered serious injuries, while 6,000 survived with slight injuries.