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Car owners to get new mandatory NTSA stickers


Over 2 million motor vehicle owners in the country are required to acquire a new, mandatory National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) sticker starting July 1.

The Third License Sticker will be placed on the windscreen of both new and used motor vehicles and will contain overt and covert features of the vehicle.

These include the car model and make, the Chassis number, the registration number and details owner’s details.

Notice for the introduction of the Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) chip was contained in the Implementation of the Traffic Rules 2016 in the Legal notice 62 published in April 15 Gazette Notice.

CURB ROAD OFFENSES

NTSA Director General Francis Meja said on Tuesday that the implementation of the new rule will help curb road offenses, interchanging of number plates as well as reduce crimes conducted using motor vehicles.

“The chip is protected against forgery and any attempts to remove it from the screen destroys it. It will be linked to the Transport Integrated Management Systems (TIMS) which contains all the data for transport operations,” Mr Meja said.

He said the fitting of motor vehicles with the chip will begin on July 1, with vehicles seeking new registration.

“After that, we will move to all public service vehicles, all trucks and all other private vehicles,” Mr Meja said.

The RFID will be detected by scanners and readers fitted in gun-trees and on the NTSA patrol vehicles. Some hand-held scanners will also be able to detect and retrieve information from the RFID chip without the vehicle stalling.

SCANNER ON THE CHIP

Details can be retrieved from vehicles moving at up to 200km per hour, at a distance of 10metres from the scanner or reader of the chip.

“Apart from road safety, the chip will also help in the fight against crime, as carjacking will be reduced. Currently, it is easy for car thieves to get away with the crime, because they can easily interchange number plates,” he said.

Vehicle owners will be required to pay a one-off payment of Sh700 for the chip which Mr Meja says, will last up to 10 years before it wears off. Forms for application for the sticker will be available on the authority’s website.