NEW BILLS TO HAVE VEHICLE OVER FOUR YEARS OLD UNDERGO MANDATORY INSPECTIONS

A new bill tabled before Parliament could see vehicles that have been in Kenya, four years after the manufacture date, mandatory inspected by the National Transport Safety Authority (NTSA).

The Traffic (Amendment) Bill, should it be passed into law, will allow the transport authority to determine the intervals and frequency at which vehicles will be inspected by the NTSA.

“Every vehicle that has been operated for a period exceeding four years from the recorded date of manufacture shall be subjected to inspection at intervals to be determined by the authority (NTSA),” the Bill sponsored by Tiaty MP William Kamket reads in part.

NTSA will also have the liberty to hire other parties to inspect vehicles in its stead. Only 17 vehicle inspection firms are currently operational in the country.

“An inspection under subsection…shall be conducted by the authority or persons authorised in writing by the authority,” reads the bill.

As it stands, private car owners pay anywhere between Ksh. 2,000 and Ksh. 3,900 for inspections based on the vehicle’s engine capacity.

Inspection rates for motorcycles and auto-rickshaws go for Ksh. 1, 300 while five-tonne trucks are charged Ksh. 2,000. Those exceeding 5,000 kilograms are charged Ksh. 4,600. Initially, all motorists paid a flat rate of Ksh. 1,000 for inspection irrespective of the vehicles’ engine capacity.

NTSA first mooted the idea to change inspection rules in 2019 in an attempt to tame increasing road accidents owing to unroadworthy vehicles. The Transport Authority specifically targeted public service vehicles which accounted for many road accidents but it would later also focus its attention on personal vehicles as well