Transport

Wide load drivers push for better pay and safety

load

Drivers ferrying abnormal loads want better pay. file PHOTO | NMG

Truck drivers transporting heavy loads along the Northern Corridor want other motorists to adhere to traffic rules governing moving of such special cargo to reduce accidents.

They are also demanding better pay for challenges of navigation and routing.

Drivers of smaller cars are notorious for overlapping, sometimes blocking them, the truckers said.

“These motorists don’t have courtesy because they can see the load is wide but they get into the way of the escort vehicles, forcing us to stop,” said John Njoroge, who has been on the road since December 13.

He is transporting a beer tank from Mombasa to Mbarara, Uganda which was offloaded at the port on October 19 last year but could not leave Mombasa due to political uncertainty.

READ: Truck drivers say other motorists behave badly, cause crashes

Mr Ngugi had stopped in Eldoret and expects to arrive at Mbarara in mid February. Heavy Commercial Vehicles Union secretary John Muite said the drivers go through many hardships.

“Transporters and importers of such cargo should agree on how better to remunerate our drivers,” Mr Muite said.  Because they avoid barriers like billboards and overpasses and underpasses, the journey is longer.

Between Mombasa and Nairobi, they cover 650km instead of the normal 500km.