The National Transport and Safety Authority’s (NTSA) quick decision to suspend the operating licence of a company whose two buses were involved in a crash on the Mombasa highway is laudable.
This provides a window to audit the safety of the nearly 90 buses operated by Modern Coast Limited.
It is a blow to the firm, but the safety of passengers supersedes any financial gain.
Transporters’ main obligation is to take travellers safely from one point to another.
It’s instructive, too, that the NTSA has confirmed that the decision was not a knee-jerk reaction after the accident.
The agency has been monitoring the bus firm’s performance in recent days and the head-on collision in which seven people died was the last straw.
This accident is bizarre, considering that the crash involved buses from the same firm travelling in different directions.
The agency must speed up the probe, as the public will be eagerly waiting for the findings.
It’s in the company’s interest to co-operate to enable a speedy conclusion of the inquiry. Not only has it made a huge investment in the buses, but Modern Coast also employs hundreds of Kenyans.
Safety is paramount in public transport. Already, 3,225 people have perished on the roads this year, according to NTSA statistics.
By the same period last year, 2,827 had died, which was slightly below the average annual death toll of 3,000.
This year’s toll is already above that and before the festive season, which is notorious for road deaths.
The NTSA and traffic police must move quickly to curb accidents by strictly enforcing traffic rules and regulations.
