Motorists are not paying illegal fines

An article titled, “How motorists are losing millions in illegal traffic fines”, (March 21) alleged that motorists are paying millions of shillings for non-existent traffic offences, particularly those caught by speed police.

A reading of the article revealed that the ethos of this allegation was that the Traffic Act provides that an offence is only committed if a speed limit is exceeded by more than 20kph and, therefore, those caught speeding over the limit by less than 20kph have not committed any offence. The article further claimed that the imposition of a maximum speed of 100kph in certain sections of the Thika Superhighway is illegal.

This is an incorrect interpretation of the law. Section 42 of the Traffic Act prohibits any person from exceeding the prescribed speed limits. The section also empowers the Cabinet Secretary to impose on any road a lower speed limit if such limitation is necessary to protect the safety of the public having regard to any permanent or temporary hazards, the alignment or characteristics of the road, the width of streets, and nature of traffic or general development of the area.

Pursuant to this section, the Cabinet Secretary has in certain sections of the Thika Superhighway, which meet the conditions described above, imposed a lower speed limit as the maximum permitted speed. Traffic signs indicating the lower speed limit are erected at the beginning and end of these sections as required by law.

LIMITED INTERPRETATION

The assertion by the article that the imposition of lower speed limits on the Thika Superhighway is illegal is, therefore, not factual and legally incorrect.

It is also noteworthy that Section 43 of the Traffic Act imposes a maximum penalty of Sh100,000 for any driver found exceeding any prescribed speed limit.

The article further contained assertions that only drivers exceeding the speed limit by 20kph commit an offence. In arriving at this conclusion, the author relied on a selective and limited interpretation of Section 70(5B) of the Traffic Act.

Section 70(5B) of the Traffic Act provides that any driver who violates a prescribed speed limit by more than 20kph per hour commits an offence and shall be liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for a term of not less than three months, or a fine of not less than Sh20,000, or both.

The import of Section 70(5B) is that it creates a mandatory minimum fine of Sh20,000 or imprisonment term of not less than three months for anyone exceeding a speed limit by more than 20kph.

The section, therefore, does not exempt those exceeding the speed limit by less than 20kph from any penalty, as claimed, but instead creates a stiffer penalty for those drivers exceeding the speed limit by more than 20kph.

The NTSA considers speeding as one of the main contributors of road crashes, with the chance of a crash turning out to be fatal, being doubled for every 5kph speed increase. On average, 3,000 lives have been lost annually on Kenyan roads, with 10,000 persons injured for more than a decade.

Mr Meja is the Director-General, National Transport Safety Authority