Lawyer in court to seek ban on speed guns

A lawyer has sued the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) in the High Court challenging its use of speed guns on Kenyan roads.

In the lawsuit to be filed at the Kericho High Court, Kipkoech Ngetich is also seeking a declaration that speeding charges preferred against him by traffic police in October were defective and illegal.

The charges have since been withdrawn.

The former Rift Valley Law Society of Kenya (LSK) chairman is also seeking Sh10 million in compensation for the alleged "malicious charges".

Mr Kipkoech, through lawyer Thaddeus Martin Nyaingiri, is questioning the presence and reliability of speed guns used by the NTSA to monitor vehicle speeds.

Mr Ngetich was last month charged with driving at 114kph on the Nakuru-Kericho highway against a compulsory maximum speed limit of 100kph.

But the matter, which was before Kericho Senior Resident Magistrate Catherine Mungania, was withdrawn by the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions after police failed to turn up for the hearing of the case.

Mr Nyaingiri, however, objected to the move, arguing that the matter was of public interest.

Mr Nyaingiri said there was no offence committed by his client under Section 75 (a) of the Traffic Act because according to the police report, he had not exceeded the alleged maximum speed limit by 20 kph, the minimum excessive speed needed before a speeding case can be taken to court.

Mr Ngetich had also asked the court to direct the police to provide a computer printout of the speed results with a certificate showing the police officer who took the speed of his vehicle on the material date that he was accused of driving beyond the allowed speed limit.

He also wanted the police to produce a certification from the Kenya Bureau of Standards to show that the speed gun used was in good condition at the time it was used to record the alleged speeding offence.