Murkomen reacts to carnage with radical strict measures

Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen yesterday issued stringent measures to curb road accidents, especially involving school children as the government promised to pick up the funeral bills for the five students who perished during Tuesday’s accident in Nakuru county.

The measures include a ban on night travel for school buses and the installation of functioning seat belts in all vehicles carrying learners, whether school buses or Public Service Vehicles (PSVs).

Murkomen decreed that from June 1, all PSV drivers and commercial vehicle drivers, upon expiry of their licences, will be subjected to a mandatory driver retest before renewal of the driving licences.

He further directed that from July 1, all PSV drivers, and commercial vehicle drivers will be subjected to a mandatory medical fitness test by a qualified medical practitioner before renewal of their driving licences.

Additionally, all driver trainees will be expected to provide a medical certificate before administration on the NTSA driver test. He also banned transportation between 10pm and 5am in line with the Traffic (Amendment) Act, 2017, effective immediately.

Condoled families

Murkomen while condoling the families who have lost their loved ones through road accidents, said his ministry was working collaboratively with other government agencies and stakeholders in the transport sector to put in place stringent measures that will enhance road safety and save lives.

“On the issue of transportation for school children, it is prudent to enhance safety especially now that the schools are closing and our children are travelling home,” Murkomen said in a statement presented to Parliament.

In the new rules, all school children must be allocated seats with functional seat belts put on at all times. Further, school vans, buses and matatus that are unroadworthy must be removed from the roads with immediate effect.

He spoke as his Education counterpart Ezekiel Machogu stated the Ministry will ensure the best free medical treatment is offered to hospitalised students from the Tuesday accident under the Edu Afya health insurance scheme for secondary school learners.

This is after three of the seven Mbihi Friends School students involved in the accident were yesterday admitted to Kenyatta National Hospital’s (KNH) Intensive Care Unit.

Cater for funeral expenses

Machogu said in a statement that the insurance cover will also cater for funeral expenses for all the deceased students.

“Three of the seven students were found to be in need of critical medical care and were rushed to the Intensive Care Unit of the Kenyatta National Hospital where they are currently admitted to,” said the CS.

He made the remarks as he condoled with the families of the deceased and affirmed its support to those whose children survived. He also said that two of the students have since been given a clean bill of health and were due for discharge yesterday, leaving only one of them still under observation.

 A post-mortem exercise on all the bodies have been completed and parents are making arrangements to move the bodies to preferred morgues.

The matatu they were travelling in was involved in a fatal accident in Naivasha, on the Nakuru-Nairobi Road, killed five students and left seven others injured.  In the implementation of the Intelligent Road Safety Management System (IRSMS), Murkomen directed that all heavy commercial operators must ensure vehicles with tare weight of 3049 Kgs and above will have to be fitted with speed limiters effective immediately.

“All the 57 licensed speed limiter vendors must install approved gadgets that will limit speed, record speed data after every 5 seconds, transmit data to both the NTSA and the vendor servers and report violations in real-time,” directed the CS.

 To ensure all public service vehicles operate with functional speed limiters, a multi-agency clinic shall be formed to verify and validate all speed limiters from April 25 to May 31.

“All stakeholders including public transport operators, speed limiter vendors and the National Police Service will be incorporated into this multi-agency exercise,” ordered the CS.

On blackspot management, Murkomen directed the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), Kenya Urban Road Authority (KURA) and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to work expeditiously to complete the ongoing road safety audits on all black spots and ensure safety interventions, including installation of signage, reflectors, and street lighting within the next 30 days.

Additionally, all infrastructure around schools should be audited and declared school zones with necessary road furniture for the safety of our school children within six months.