Last week Friday, 13th February, saw fatalities caused by road accidents across the country reach 351 and in light to this, the National Transport Safety Authority (NTSA) of Kenya has said it will turn to technology practices to help reduce road accidents.
NTSA hopes that using ICT will help keep track of records of indiscipline cases by careless drivers which will be used to call for a warrant renewal or suspension, depending on the state of crime. A database will be set up to store the cases, be it drunken driving or speeding.
With the agency currently having about 45 officers and 25 speed guns that aid them in enforcing traffic laws in the country, NTSA hopes that leveraging ICT will help enforce traffic rules and mount public awareness campaigns that will in turn help reduce the accidents by at least 12 per cent.
Francis Meja, the director general NTSA said that Kenyans are still not informed on which agency or institution is mandated to do what. He says that most people are still confused about where to go for their motor vehicle’s issues.
“We are getting a lot of enquiries on motor vehicle registration. Few people seem to be aware that the mandate no longer lies with Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA),” Meja states.
Following this establishment and in addition to using gadgets to monitor traffic across Kenya, NTSA plans to make use of the now common and effective platform, Social Media, to reach out to the public as well as respond to queries about motor vehicle registration as well as other forms of licensing.
With a new move in works to allow people to register for their driving licenses as well as renewals for other licenses with more ease by doing it online and also through the mobile money payments that is fast and effective, NTSA hopes to achieve a smooth transition in traffic operations.
When speed guns were introduced and surveillance cameras were put up, Kenyans just like their usual creativity came up with a solution to alert fellow citizens the exact points to slow down and which ones it is okay to speed, all through social media. We can only hope that this new move by NTSA will be of help.
