A Critique on Kenya’s traffic legislation and its deterrence from traffic offences

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the national traffic legislation enacted within Kenya and the law enforcement organizations that implement them. The reason for analyzing the laws is aimed at critiquing their effect in deterring motorists from committing specific traffic offences. This paper studies the various schools of thought on criminal deterrence with a focus on traffic legislation. It starts with the principles of utilitarianism which are founded on the belief that human beings act in a hedonist and rational manner. Moreover, other multi-disciplinary aspects of deterrence are also discussed relevant to the occurrence of traffic crimes. The research carried out examines the effect of penalties imposed by Kenya’s traffic laws on motorists and comparatively analyses the traffic laws of Denmark and their enforcement, which are considered to be some of the world’s leading in deterring motorists from committing traffic offences