NTSA, driving schools blamed for rising road carnage
Matatu Welfare Association chairman Dickson Mbugua who has accused driving schools of recommending their trainees to be issued with driving licences without having completed the NTSA driving curriculum. FILE PHOTO | NATION GROUP
What you need to know:
- Mr Mbugua said NTSA's 35 lesson curriculum of three months is not being implemented.
- NTSA has also been put on the spot after its officers were mentioned in at least two road crashes that have happened this month.
- The latest incident happened on Tuesday along the Nairobi-Garissa highway in Yatta and left three people dead.
The Matatu Welfare Association has blamed driving schools and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) for the increased road carnage amid the revocation of the issuance of road service licence to city vehicles.
Vehicles plying city routes are usually licensed by NTSA to ease the demand for public transport during the festive season.
Speaking to Nation, the Matatu Welfare Association chairman Dickson Mbugua accused driving schools of recommending their trainees to be issued with driving licences without having completed the NTSA driving curriculum.
He said that NTSA had rolled out a 35 lesson curriculum to all schools to be undertaken in three months but this has not been implemented.
“The Interior Cabinet Minister Fred Matiang’i should, instead of deregistering the current driving schools, fully invoke the drivers’ curriculum and enforce the NTSA guidelines,” said Mr Mbugua.
At the same time, NTSA has been put on the spot after its officers were mentioned in at least two road crashes that have happened this month.
The latest incident happened on Tuesday along the Nairobi-Garissa highway in Yatta and left three people dead.
A witness said that despite the vehicle having been stopped and found overloaded by NTSA officials, it was let go before it crashed a few minutes later
Meanwhile, one person died and two others were seriously injured after a driver lost control of a vehicle which and landed in a ditch near the Nithi bridge in Tharaka-Nithi County on the Meru-Nairobi highway around 9pm on Wednesday.
Abdan Munene Kanga was confirmed dead on arrival at Chuka County Referral Hospital where he was taken.
Police Commander Mary Omari said the victims were heading from Meru to Chuka Town.
Additional reporting by Alex Njeru
