The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has defended its decision to implement an automated Instant Fines Traffic Management System, which delivers penalty notices to motorists in real time via mobile phones.

The authority says the system is aimed at improving road safety and enforcing discipline on the roads, rather than generating revenue.

During an interview with a local TV station on Thursday, March 11, 2026, NTSA Director General Nashon Kondiwa explained the purpose of the new system. He emphasised that the initiative is part of the authority’s broader strategy to enhance enforcement, engineering, and education on the roads.

“Here we are talking about the three Es of safety. We are talking of enforcement, we are talking of engineering, and we are talking of education.

“The instant fines fall under what we call enforcement, and the practice that we have seen across the world is that enforcement works if there is certainty, and enforcement works if there is predictability of what will happen. Action versus consequences must be clearly predictable,” Kondiwa said.

Kondiwa added that the system is designed to make enforcement immediate and transparent, giving drivers instant feedback on traffic violations. Offenders receive fines on their mobile phones, making it easier to track violations and ensure that consequences are clear and consistent.

According to Kondiwa, conventional traffic policing has always involved human intervention and the possibility of corruption, which will be minimised through digital enforcement. He said the system of instant fines relies on smart cameras positioned along some of the major highways to capture offences like speeding and other violations of the traffic laws.

How instant fines work

After capturing an offence, the system automatically sends an SMS to the registered owner of the vehicle informing him or her of the violation and the fines to be paid. He said that the photographic evidence that will be obtained by the cameras will be sent along with the fine notice to ensure that motorists can establish the validity of the charge.

As regards the issue of how the motorists will be aware of the locations of cameras and what the limits are, Kondiwa indicated that every part of the road which will be covered by cameras will be well-marked with adequate speed limit signs as a way of giving the motorists enough time to notice them.

He also explained that fines should be paid in a specified time frame, which is now seven days, through specified methods like the use of the KCB Group network and that default in paying fines may cause more sanctions and limits on the use of NTSA services.

Instant fine system challenged in court

The defence by the director general is in the face of a challenge to the system in the High Court, in which a motorist had petitioned in a bid to have the programme suspended, claiming that the programme infringes on the constitutional rights, which provide penalties which are enforced without seeking the court’s approval.

The court, however, refused to stop the rollout, and NTSA can still impose the instant fines system as the case carries on.

Kondiwa urged motorists to accept the changes because he argued that the automated system will bring modernisation in enforcing traffic laws, corruption will be minimised, and eventually lives will be saved as there will be increased compliance with the traffic laws.

The introduction of the instant fines system is not isolated, as the government and NTSA are working on the wider adoption of digital technology in the enforcement of road safety, and this is by introducing cameras on highways to check and discourage road-rage behaviours.