A school bus was involved in a road accident on Friday night at Maanzoni, Machakos County.
The Kimwondo Highschool school bus crashed with a lorry and at the time of press, the number of casualties had not been confirmed.
Machakos Governor Dr Alfred Mutua had announced that school buses were banned from plying the county roads after 6.59pm.
He had declared that any vehicle ferrying students past that time will be stopped and the driver arrested.
[caption caption="A school bus that was involved in an accident"]
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Mutua stated that the affected bus will not be released to the school until a fine of not less than Ksh50,000 was paid adding that proper planning and adherence to the law should be put in place when planning school trips.
He spoke after the weekend tragedy involving a school bus that left 11 students dead in the neighbouring Kitui County.
Mutua revealed that a special enforcement unit of the Machakos County Inspectorate had been formed to enforce and ensure compliance of the rules.
“The unit will work in conjunction with the police and other relevant government agencies. This, especially on our roads, has led to disorder, loss of production hours and fatal injuries,” Mutua stated.
“For many years, our roads have created orphans and left families suffering. It is the responsibility of all of us, and especially, governments to do something to stop the massacre we face on our roads,” he added.
[caption caption="Machakos Governor Dr Alfred Mutua"]
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In announcing the rules, Mutua also noted that the Constitution gave county governments responsibilities over sectors including county roads, street lighting, traffic parking and public road transport.
"Majority of the time, accidents, traffic congestion and poor road use are caused by bad attitudes and disregard for others and the law," the Machakos Governor observed.
