CRACKDOWN ON ROAD UNWORTHY VEHICLES By EMANUEL BOAZ Transport for many passengers who use the Mombasa - Nairobi highway along Mazeras and Miritini area came to a stand still yesterday as the assistant minister of transport Mr Hassan Joho personally participated in the cracks down exercise that is meant to put away unroad worthy vehicles. The assistant minister together with the traffic police and the mechanics inspectors conducted inspection on every vehicle that did not meet the threshold to make sure the vehicles were in good shape. One of the vehicles that did not meet the requirement was a bus belonging to the Horizon coach. The bus did not have a speed governor, the seat belts were not functioning and the lights were not in shape thus considered road unworthy. The minister kindly asked the bus driver to call the company office and call for another bus in order to continue with their journey because the bus had to be taken to the police station. The passengers were left stranded because the bus company has only two buses and there was no available vehicle at that moment. “This is not fair we have paid our fair only to be stranded here. There are other ways of ensuring safety. I propose that this exercise should be conducted from the source before the vehicle leaves the various stations” a passenger of the horizon coach Ms Mariam Juma bitterly said. The bus driver, who refused to reveal his name, said that he is shocked by the action of the Minister and the mechanical inspectors because in his view the car did not have any faults whatsoever. Furthermore he is not happy with the action taken. “The public should wake up and avoid locomotives that do not meet the requirements. When you see that the car you are boarding does not have seat belts you should avoid it for your own safety,” Mr Joho said. Furthermore he called out for citizens to take part in the governments fight to reduce road accidents by reporting cases of road unworthy vehicles and vanderlisation of government property meant for safety. “The Kenya highway authority is to erect black spot signs at Bonje area the speed limit in such an area is 50 km/h and also inspect if a concrete wall is to be erected along the black spot stretch,” the assistant minister said. “The crackdown is to be conducted all over the country to ensure safety for all road users.” he added. “When it comes to traffic driving schools, members of public and the ministry of roads are to work hand in hand in order to make sure the roads accidents are reduced.” The provincial traffic enforcement officer Mr Martin kariuki said. “The police are doing all they can to make sure the road laws are enforced,” Mr Kariuki said. He also called out for the government to provide more speed guns in order to detect and make sure that the speed limits are kept at normal by all road users. Ends.