It's about time. After years of announcements, technical discussions, regulations published but never actually enforced, Kenya is finally preparing to change the face of traffic fines. And this time, according to the president, there is a date.
Cameras on the roads, automatic fines on your phone, and goodbye to direct contact with traffic officers. If you've ever spent an entire morning in court to pay a thousand-shilling fine, you know that something isn't working. Now the government promises to resolve everything with a text message: instant fines, no arguments, no negotiations. In fact, all you need to know is what the offense is, and you pay the equivalent. No more “if you don't give me 5,000 shillings, I'll take you to the police” or the risk of having to waste a day in court, then pay the bribe to avoid it.
William Ruto has decided to speed things up: within a month, the instant penalty system must become a reality.

The president has ordered the Ministry of Transport and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to activate the instant fines program, which has been on hold since 2016, within a month and to install traffic surveillance cameras in at least five or six major cities across the country.
The directive came during a high-level meeting of the National Council on the Administration of Justice (NCAJ), with a clear message: Kenya can no longer afford delays as road casualties increase and distortions in the control system thrive.
The mechanism is simple on paper: cameras connected to an automated system. The offense is recorded, the evidence is digital and “disputable,” and the fine goes directly to the vehicle owner's cell phone. No arguments on the side of the road, no day wasted in court to pay a thousand-shilling fine.
The president also supported the amendment of the Traffic Act to transform minor offenses from criminal to administrative matters, introducing a points system on driving licenses and progressive penalties for repeat offenders. Those who commit multiple offenses in the same year will pay more. This mechanism aims to discourage habitual offenders.
The context is serious. Over 4,000 deaths per year on Kenyan roads, 5,009 in 2025, an increase of 261 victims compared to the previous year. During the 2025 holiday season alone, there were 415 deaths, 23% more than the previous season. The estimated economic impact is around 450 billion shillings per year, equivalent to 5% of the national GDP.
A pilot project launched between 2025 and 2026, involving magistrates, anti-corruption officials, and 121 NTSA officers, has already shown results: a 10% reduction in casualties in cases involving public transport, thanks to more coordinated controls.
In addition to instant fines, the plan includes an integrated digital system linking the police, prosecutors, courts, and the prison system, body cameras for traffic officers, more stringent integrity tests, and strengthened anti-corruption measures. According to Ruto, digitization in other public sectors has already reduced theft and irregularities: the goal is to replicate the same effect on the roads.
On the subject of inspections, the president has pushed to accelerate a public-private partnership model for vehicle inspection centers. Why, he asked, invest 12 billion public shillings when the private sector is ready to do so? The new regulations have already been published and the system is expected to be launched by July 1.
The plan also includes identifying and securing black spots, particularly along the Northern Corridor and the Mombasa–Nairobi highway, introducing digital tachographs to monitor commercial driver fatigue, mandatory defensive driving certifications for PSV operators, and strengthening emergency response with new trauma centers and ambulances along major arteries.
According to the president, the combination of serious inspections and automated control could reduce road safety problems by up to 70%.
For residents and tourists on the coast, from Malindi to Watamu to Mombasa, the actual implementation of this system would mean less uncertainty in controls and, according to the government's intentions, less room for informal negotiations. The question now is: will the cameras actually arrive this time, or will they remain a promise hanging on a press release?