Ignore threats and come up with laws to regulate boda boda

According to media reports, the Boda boda Safety Association of Kenya (BSAK) has threatened to hold a nationwide strike should Parliament proceed with the Public Transport (Motorcycle Regulation) Bill 2023. The rider’s association is against attempts to regulate a mode of transport whose members carry on as though they were a law unto themselves.

The regulations that Parliament proposes are founded on plain common sense. If anything, it comes as a surprise that these are not already statutes in the country’s laws. Take, for instance, the proposal to have every rider of a two-wheeled motorcycle to have a valid licence issued by the relevant authority.

Or the requirement that riders and their passengers have prescribed protective gear. Or that overtaking by riders be done on the right-hand side and that riders not overtake within the same lane as the vehicle being overtaken.

These are just some of the rules that are obvious in other jurisdictions but that come across as alien to BSAK members. Yet they are intended to assure the safety and security of riders, passengers and other road users. A study into what it takes to be a boda boda operator is instructive in understanding the culture of lawlessness and impunity characteristic of the motorcycle transport industry.

For starters, there are low barriers to entry. Anyone who can ride a bicycle is considered a quick study in motorcycle riding. Such a person is given a 30-minute crash course in an open field that entails basic instruction in the workings of a bike’s clutch, gears and accelerator. Another 30 minutes are then dedicated to lessons in weaving in and out of traffic and an hour later, the rider is released to start carrying fare-paying passengers.

Safety course

Contrast that with other jurisdictions where stringent conditions must be met before one qualifies to be a rider. In the US, one needs to take a complete motorcycle safety course and to pass two tests: A written and a skills test. Documents must be provided prior that prove one’s identity, age and residence.

A written test covers road rules, bike terminology, safety practice and state laws. Depending on the state, one starts from bikes with the smallest engine capacity before gradually working their way upward to bigger machines that require more skills.

Many boda boda riders have little regard for road and safety rules treating them as mere suggestions. They seldom stop at traffic lights. They overtake on the left-hand side, ride on pavements and drop off passengers smack in the middle of traffic. This culture of impunity comes at a steep price.

Data from the Kenya National Police Service reveals that 9,996 people were directly affected by motorcycle crashes from May 2022 to October 2023. The data further shows that boda boda operators are more likely to die as a result of motorcycle crashes than their pillion passengers, constituting 74 per cent of the number of deaths recorded in the period.

No doubt, push-back is expected from beneficiaries of lawlessness. But it must not be countenanced. Parliament must be relentless in ensuring that the positive provisions of the Public Transport (Motorcycle Regulation) Bill 2023 become law. The august House should draw encouragement from the Michuki rules of 2003 that brought sanity to roads in Kenya.

Mr Khafafa is a public policy analyst