Days after President Uhuru Kenyatta signed into law the amended Traffic Act, the government, in conjunction with other stakeholders, has revealed plans to introduce a new technology where offenders will not conceal or get away with their offences.
According to Winfred Oginga, a Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) official, Kenya is adopting technology used in other developed countries like the US, where offences are captured real-time.
In the US, traffic rules are enforced using the timed system, a sensor system or a combination of the two. They control how motorists move around the cities. In case of offences, the systems inform the cops who then track down motorists and issue them with a ticket to either appear in court or pay a fine.
During the Transport and Infrastructure Conference on Wednesday, July 13, Oginga disclosed that the new technology is known as Intelligent Transport Systems.
The system works using smart cameras that capture details of traffic violators and then transmit them to a Traffic Management Center.
The captured information is then shared with police officers who enforce and prescribe charges to motorists found culpable.
Already, the government has made considerate steps in rolling out the new Intelligent Transport Systems. According to Oginga, the pilot phase has been done on Western Ring Road, where e-Police has flagged several traffic rules violators.
"We want to roll out all these programmes all over town," Oginga stated during the conference.
Besides the deployment of technology, the KURA official noted that the government was mulling installing speed guns permanently on different roads.
"There is need to install speed guns that will come with an automatic plate number recognition system," Oginga maintained.
Currently, traffic police carry speed guns while enforcing rules on different routes across the country.
Samuel Omer from Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) advised motorists to be cautious on the roads even after the re-introduction of Alco-blow on major routes.
"Police officers have done a good job but they cannot be everywhere, we need to police ourselves," Omer explained.
