12 drivers arrested as NTSA intensifies road safety checks

Twelve drivers have been arrested and their vehicles impounded following a night-time road safety operation in Meru County as NTSA intensifies enforcement ahead of the festive season.

The interagency operation targeted motorists violating traffic regulations, with officers uncovering several cases of drink-driving among those arrested.

According to NTSA, eight of the 12 drivers were driving under the influence of alcohol, while another driver refused to provide a breath specimen for analysis.

“Officers recorded Breath Alcohol Content (BrAC) readings as high as 1.483 mg/l, 1.295 mg/l, 1.189 mg/l, 1.149 mg/l, and 0.780 mg/l, all significantly higher than the legal limit of 0.35 mg/l,” said NTSA.

The crackdown comes as NTSA intensifies road safety enforcement through its Msimu Bila Ajali, Usalama Barabarani campaign.

On October 25, at least 24 people were killed and several others injured when a bus carrying passengers returning from a burial collided head-on with a lorry at Kanga, near Mtito Andei, along the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway.

The crash came just three weeks after another multi-vehicle collision at Mlima Kiu in Salama, Makueni County, killed 17 people, most of them Catholic pilgrims travelling in a matatu.

NTSA data shows that 3,995 people were killed in road crashes between January 1 and October 4, 2026, a 9.2 per cent increase from the 3,657 fatalities recorded during a similar period in 2025.

Pedestrians accounted for the highest number of deaths at 1,490, followed by motorcyclists at 1,061.

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