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Passengers stranded as safety authority swoops defective vehicles

By DAVID KWALIMWA February 28th, 2015 1 min read

A face-off between public transport vehicle operators, Traffic Police and officials from the National Transports and Safety Authority (NTSA)  threatened to paralyse transport operations within Nairobi on Saturday afternoon.

Hundreds of matatus were impounded along Jogoo Road, with the authorities specifically targeting vehicles with worn out tyres and without safety belts for the passengers.

“The crackdown (on defective vehicles) is on. Our officers will continue with these swoops regular and with time it is going to be very expensive to have a defective vehicle in Nairobi,” NTSA Chairman Lee Kinyanjui told Nairobi News.

“We are going to have regular swoops and searches all over the country. It is going to be an expensive affair to use a defective car in Nairobi,” Kinyanjui added.

This operation left hundreds of passengers stranded, after Police impounded several PSVs forcing commuters to seeks alternative means of transport.

Meanwhile, some drivers and conductors, chose to flee forcing the authorities to tow away their vehicles.