A Nairobi motorist has set social media abuzz after footage emerged showing his unconventional method of dodging the National Transport and Safety Authority’s (NTSA) speed enforcement cameras. Nairobi driver’s new trick to evade NTSA speed cameras stuns Kenyans online. The clip, captured by a motorist driving behind the silver Toyota in the early hours of the morning, showed the registration plates deliberately obscured, making the details nearly impossible to read. The motorist used black tape and plastered it over his vehicle’s number plates. How NTSA’s speed camera system works NTSA’s Instant Fines System, deployed along busy corridors such as the Thika Superhighway, Mombasa Road and the Southern Bypass, relies on Artificial Intelligence and Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology to flag speeding vehicles, pull their registration details from the NTSA database, and send penalty notices directly to the registered owner’s phone via SMS.
Obscuring the plates would, in theory, disrupt that chain, since the automated system depends on clearly legible registration numbers to match a vehicle to its owner and generate a fine. Despite the ingenuity some viewers have attributed to the tactic, driving with blocked or obscured number plates is an offence under Kenya’s Traffic Act, Cap 403. Section 12 of the Act is explicit: every motor vehicle must display identification plates in the prescribed manner at all times. “No motor vehicle or trailer registered under this Act or driven under the authority of a general dealer’s licence shall be used on a road unless there is fixed thereto in the prescribed manner the prescribed number of identification plates of the prescribed design and colour on which is inscribed the identification mark of the vehicle,” the Act states in part. Kenyan stunned after motorist blocks number plate to evade fine The footage sparked a lively debate online, with reactions ranging from amusement to caution.
Liz Nduta: “Very nice, syllabus inaendaa vizuri.” Wathira Carol: “I think this can only work with the old registration plates. Hizi mpya if you don’t cover it completely they ca zoom and scan to reveal the details. My two cents though.” Abdallah Sherio: “Instead of that just remove the number plate.” Patrick Maina: “So he assumes the camera detects by seeing the number plates. The older generation will really suffer in the hands of youngsters.”
