Vehicles to be fitted with monitoring devices to spice up street security

The government plans to have long-distance trucks fitted with telematics in the drivers’ cabin in an effort to boost road safety. A telematics system is a tracking device that captures and transmits data about a vehicle’s location, speed, and performance.

Transport Cabinet Secretary, Davis Chirchir on Thursday told the National Assembly Committee on Transport and Infrastructure that there are situations where drivers are on the roads for more hours than would otherwise be required, a situation which causes extreme fatigue.

“We have situations where the drivers are driving more hours than would otherwise be the case and we want to employ telematics so that most of the trucks will have an observation system within the drivers’ cabin,” he told the committee.

The CS additionally stated that laws have been drafted to create resting locations for vans alongside the highways, and can be introduced to Parliament sooner or later.

“We appreciate that sometimes, if there is a parking, the driver could possibly park and if not, you tend to keep pushing yourself, yet you are tired,” he defined.

On inspection of autos, the CS stated that it’s a main course of concern and the Government is looking for to make sure that solely roadworthy autos function.

He stated the Ministry is engaged on a coverage that may make inspection of autos not a protect of the Government.

“We are working on regulations which will allow inspection of vehicles to be franchised, licensed and done by those who are licensed in every corner of the country so that we do not have vehicles that are having challenges or unroadworthy on our roads,” he stated.

But even because the Government put in place these measures, the CS stated that every one Kenyans should take accountability as a result of there are situations the place blame has been apportioned to some street customers.

“We have tended to apportion responsibility where pedestrians, boda bodas or motorists are careless, and sometimes we cross the roads without looking to confirm there are no vehicles and expect the drivers to take care of us. We want to urge Kenyans to exercise caution in various spheres from pedestrians to boda bodas, cyclists to drivers,” he stated.

The CS informed the committee that the Government will deploy expertise, together with digital techniques, to curb street carnage.

At the identical time, he stated the Government, working with Kenya Red Cross Society, is reviewing all black spots within the nation and is looking for to supply a finances for widening among the sections, as an illustration, the Nithi bridge amongst others.

According to the CS, crash knowledge signifies a complete of two,933 fatalities reported between January and August 10, 2025 and 80 in the previous couple of days.

Following the spike in street accidents, the CS stated officers drawn from numerous businesses are conducting security audits on the street segments to establish deficiencies and reconstruct the scenes.

The staff is anticipated to finish the train inside the subsequent seven days and submit technical suggestions for implementation to avert pointless lack of lives.