Public transport companies are in a mad dash to install speed governors in vehicles as the deadline for compliance looms.

The firms have until February 26 to install the devices, which came into effect through a presidential order gazetted in February last year.

A speed governor is a device installed in motor vehicles to measure and regulate the speed ensuring it does not go beyond a certain set limit.

The maximum speed for Rwanda was set at 60 kilometres per hour.

The order requires that all public transport vehicles be equipped with speed governors to control maximum road speed.

The transporters had last year in November set their own deadline, January 15 to have complied with the order way before the date set by the authorities.

Following a meeting attended by government organs in charge of security and transport and public transport operators in Kigali in November last year, the parties had agreed to beat the government set deadline.

However, 14 days past their set deadline, a spot check by The New Times revealed that not all transport firms were compliant.

Dodo Twahirwa, the head of Rwanda Federation of Transport Cooperatives, told The New Times that they had commenced fitting the devices on their buses with over 100 buses already installed.

Nille Muneza, the head of Royal Express, whose buses ply the Nyabugogo-Kicukiro route, also told The New Times that they were in the process of installing the devices in their vehicles.

Muneza said all their new vehicles acquired after the introduction of the directive came with the devices already installed, while the older ones were being fitted.

Police warn of impending fines

Police Traffic and Road Safety department has appealed to the public transporters to speed up the installation of the devices that they say will help reduce incidences of road carnage caused by speeding and reduce the chances of fines and penalties.

Figures from the Traffic Police indicate that about 200 people died and more than 300 others were injured in road accidents in the first half of last year.

Jean Marie Vianney Ndushabandi, the spokesperson of the Traffic Police, said although some transporters have met the deadline, there are others that have not made any attempt so far.

"After several meetings between transporters and other concerned institutions like the Ministries of Internal Security and that of Infrastructure, Police and Rwanda Utility Regulatory Agency, the transporters themselves set December 15, 2015, deadline for all vehicles commuting to have fitted these devices while those operating within Kigali were to have up to January 15, 2016,” Ndushabandi said.

The different deadlines set were to help ensure that business was not affected in the process of complying with the directive.

"We call upon transporters who are yet to implement this directive to do so before the deadline because failure to do so will attract penalties,” he said.

Ndushabandi said an inspection team has been instituted to ascertain that the directive is being adhered to.

Ernest Hagenimana, a mechanic Remera, said he had noted an increase of clients seeking to install the gadgets in recent months.

However, he said most of his clients were passenger vehicles, with few cargo trucks coming forth seeking the devices.

Hagenimana said the devices were available on the market but most firms prefer importing them in bulk.

The device costs about Rwf200,000.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw