Airtel Kenya recently launched a road safety initiative that is meant to encourage safe driving on Kenyan roads especially by public service vehicles in a move to reduce road accidents on Kenyan roads.
The company is partnering with Frotcom East Africa and 2NK SACCO, one of Kenya’s leading transport SACCO and will target 550 public service vehicles plying the Nyeri – Nairobi route.
The system which is being fitted by Frotcom East Africa Ltd and Airtel Kenya will allow the management to track all vehicles within the country.
According to Airtel Kenya managing director Mr. Shivan Bhargava ,Airtel believes that business is not an end in itself but rather a means to helping the society achieve more, and that Airtel has a special role in helping Kenyans accomplish more in their daily lives.
He added that, “This initiative will help to reduce road accidents on Kenyan roads whose significant direct cost in lives lost, social and economic implications cannot be ignored. He further said that this new product and partnership will contribute to the much needed preservation of lives by reducing the speeds and improving the safety of passengers in the vehicles, thereby reducing the risk of road accidents that threaten the lives of the thousands of Kenyan commuters including children using the roads on a daily basis, not only on public transport but in general.
The system will enable geo-tracking of the more than 550 vehicles in the SACCO’s fleet as well as relay messages of speed limit violation to the SACCO management. It will also track fuel consumption in their vehicles and give alerts when a vehicle diverts from its intended route The system will help in managing misuse and any possible criminal cases such as incidences of carjacking or vehicle theft
Estimated financial benefits show that the SACCO members could save up to Kshs40 million annually by sealing revenue leakage loopholes with the use of this product.Sacco members will gain access to data enabled devices (handsets) with Airtel numbers that they can pay for through monthly installments. These devices will enable them to make unlimited calls on Airtel using the closed user group rates within the SACCO group members anywhere in Kenya and access the Internet easily through the devices on Airtel’s data network.
The partnership allows passengers pay fares through Airtel Money and direct transfer of cash from the Airtel Money pay points in the matatu directly to the owners thereby reducing the risk associated with handling cash.
According to the 2NK SACCO chairman, James Kahiro, the SACCO is embracing the new system to help reduce accidents on Kenyan roads and enable them to manage the vehicles professionally. He added that, “ICT is the way to go in business today and we want to do this to further enforce compliance to traffic rules and not evasion.” The 2NK chair has urged other transport SACCO’s in the country to follow suit and acquire similar management systems.
