"I wish to commend KTA for this very noble initiative. I urge road operators especially public service and commercial vehicle transporters to use this facility to train and re-train their drivers in order to ensure that their skills are at par with current demand," avered Mr. Kinyanjui.
The institute, aptly named the East Africa Heavy Commercial Vehicle Driver Development Institute, is a joint effort of KTA and East Africa Trade Hub (EATH), formerly known as USAID-COMPETE. The facility is located along Mbaraki Road in Mombasa and has three state-of-the-art truck simulators and two classrooms with a capacity for 45 drivers per training session.

The Traffic Department estimates that over 3000 lives are lost annually on Kenyan roads due to accidents and another 6000 seriously injured in the same period. East Africa lone looses an estimated 5% of her GDP to road injuries and fatalities beside the obvious emotional trauma and financial strain on families.

The Institute is therefore designed to offer practical driving sessions on truck simulators - considered to be the safer mode for training Heavy Commercial Vehicle drivers, educate drivers on critical aspects of road safety including vehicle maintanance, national and regional highway codes and psycho-social skills and upon completion of the training course take them through rigorous testing to ascertain their skills in different driving circumstances and ultimately certify qualified and competent drivers. This is envisaged to catalyze the ongoing road safety efforts and contribute substantially to safer road usage.

NTSA plans to undertake a review of the existing laws on road use and road safety. The Authority also plans to introduce tamper proof driving licenses that will avail driver details as well as driving history.

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