National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang'ula has proposed a raft of measures that would go a long way in addressing the challenge of road carnage in the country.
Speaking on Tuesday during the memorial service and fundraising for victims of the Londiani accident, Wetang'ula called on the Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen to ensure all drivers in the country undergo psychiatric testing in addition to the ongoing retesting.
Wetang'ula blamed the majority of the accidents being witnessed in the country on human error due to indiscipline mostly seen by the failure by some drivers to obey road signage.
The Speaker noted that some of the drivers are likely to be having mental instability hence the recurring accidents that have continued to claim lives across the country.
“At Kaburengu market last year we lost 46 people in a similar accident, two weeks ago, same spot a trailer hit a school bus and killed 17 pupils and this is the history everywhere in Kenya. Have some psychiatric tests on our drivers, I think some of them suffer from mental instability,” he said.
He has further called on the government to offer counseling services for the drivers whom he said might be having tough times and battling with various issues in their lives.
Wetang'ula recommended that long-distance vehicles should have two drivers to help each other to avoid one getting overwhelmed and sleeping off while driving.
“Some drivers operate for long distances without resting, human bodies have limited capacity, the buses must have two drivers, one picks up halfway to avoid cases of sleeping on the steering wheel,” he said.
On boda bodas, he suggested that the government trains operators across the country on the importance of adhering to road safety rules, adding that some are seen ferrying as many as six passengers on their motorcycles at ago.
“You must make it painful for reckless drivers to survive on our roads. In the UK, first warning, second warning, third warning your licence is withdrawn; you will get your licence back after maybe 10 years of very thorough testing,” he said.
Wetang'ula also decried high numbers of roadblocks on some roads in the country, most of which he termed as ‘toll stations.'
He instead suggested that the relevant Ministries of Roads and Interior should conduct a needs assessment to determine where such roadblocks should be mounted.
It is his opinion that roadblocks be mounted a kilometre away from markets that are near roads to help avert accidents.
“We need to have a conversation between the ministries of roads and interior so that we find where is it necessary to have a roadblock, what purpose it serves and how do we use it to control this road carnage.”
