The National Transport and Safety Authority has launched Sh2.2 million Closed Circuit Televisions (CCTV), a monitoring system for long-distance trucks operating in the Northern Corridor.
The Northern Corridor links Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, and other countries in East and Central Africa.
The main Northern Corridor transport network connects to the Port of Mombasa. It includes a road network and railways belonging Kenya Railways Corporation or Uganda Railways Corporation. Inland water routes, container terminals, commonly known locally as ICDs (Inland Container Depots), Tororo Inland Port – whose contract was awarded by Great Lakes Ports Limited of Kenya, despite opposition from truck transporters and clearing firms.
The multi-million-dollar CCTV go live program has been launched by the NTSA to assist transporters in monitoring live updates from drivers while they are transiting along the northern corridor.
The CCTV cameras will also be installed on accident-prone stretches of highways and black spots.
The partnership between NTSA & Pioneer Road Safety Consultant Limited (PRSC) was the result of the Mombasa launch.
Pioneer Road Safety Consultants Limited (or Pioneer Road Safety Consultants Limited) is a Road Safety and Occupational Health Support Organization with the sole purpose of ensuring that lives and equipment are protected on roads through safety planning.
Since its inception in 2017, PRSC has operated 13 check points to ensure that drivers are safe and in good health so they can continue their journeys.
The company has developed a journey management service called ‘Checkmate’ with checkpoints along the Northern Corridor.
The company recently added two additional checkpoint stations in Idudi, Uganda, and Tororo, Uganda.
“We are doing this because studies have shown that 85 percent of road carnage is caused by human behavior, which we believe can be enhanced by corrective journey management making sure that drivers are rested on the road so that they are not fatigued,” said Habel Amakobe, PRSC founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Amakobe said that what the company does is to take charge of the driver’s journey management including the driver’s wellness programs and best practices on the road at all checkpoints.
He said that road safety training is offered to drivers in defense driving, road marshals training for yardtrafficking and road control marshals.
“We have 75 transporters using our services, today we are looking at about 15,000 truck drivers on the road since inception in 2017 and they have remained safe all through,” Amakobe said.
According to him, the program was sponsored and maintained by Motrex Limited to Sh1.7 million.
The company also donated nine breathalyzers, at a cost to the company of Sh92,000.00 per gadget, plus an annual service fee of Sh7. 000.
“This will help us champion road safety initiatives through driver wellness initiatives at our Maungu checkpoint road side station along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway where we have a nurse and a clinical officer waiting to check on the wellness of our drivers,” he said.
He added, ‘our focus is to ensure that drivers are safe, it makes a difference when drivers leave their homes safely and get back safely to their families’.
Eva Nyawira (NTSA coast regional manager) praised the initiative, saying it would help reduce road carnage as well as ensure safety for motorists on the highways.
Nyawira believes that Checkmate, a journey management platform, will be the best platform for fleet owners to plan, monitor and evaluate road trips of all types so as to reduce the risk of road accidents.
She stated that for the longest time, drivers were ignored because people believed that they were failures.
She stated that drivers will be taken care of through the new initiative so that when they are on the roads, they know someone is watching out for them.
“Drivers sometimes face challenges along the road, but through the checkpoints, somebody can meet them and talk to them, listen to their challenges and be able to address some of the challenges and check on their wellness and just check if they are driving safely,” Nyawira said.
She said that road safety is not about one person or institution, but rather it’s about combined efforts to get solutions faced along the road.
She reiterated that the system needs to be replicated in the country not only in the northern corridor but across all major highways in the country so that drivers’ safety can be guaranteed.
“When the drivers are safe then other road users are safe as well,” she said adding that security and safety of drivers go hand in hand.
After several hijackers killed and maimed truck drivers, some have complained about the security of major highways. Between January and October, 9 drivers lost their lives to hijackers.
She called on the National Police Service (NPS) to increase security in high-risk areas along highways to reduce insecurity and ensure that drivers feel safe driving, day or night.
“My advice to all drivers is that do not pick passengers along the road, if you are given a vehicle, drive it to the destination without carrying any unauthorized passengers on the way because that is when you can get hijacked,” she said.
Newton Wangoo, Chairman of Kenya Transporters Association (KTA), praised the initiative and said that checkmate was doing what was best for the truck owners.
“They are now giving us visibility to see and monitor what is happening in all check points, speaking from a user point I can say that we now have control of our trucks,” said Wangoo.
Drivers pass through checkpoints to be checked on their health and fatigue.
They also inspect the trucks and cargo being ferried, as well as whether there are passengers.
“All trucks sleep at checkmate points, it is not for the drivers to decide where to sleep, for me this kind of journey management is God sent,” Wangoo said.
By Hussein Abdullahi
Source: kenyanews
