Common traffic offences: pavements, passengers and losing your licence
Traffic Act · sources read 2 Oct 2026
Driving on a pavement or pedestrian walkway to avoid traffic is an offence: up to 3 months in jail or a KSh 30,000 fine for a first conviction, and up to 6 months in jail after that. Riding on the roof, steps or outside of a vehicle is banned, a bicycle may carry only one passenger besides the rider, and a third endorsable conviction within 3 years means losing your licence for at least 6 months.
- Deadline
- Two earlier endorsable convictions within the 3 years before a new offence lead to disqualification for at least 6 months.
- Where
- The court named on the police notification
Steps
- If police serve you a notification of a minor traffic offence, go to the court named on it at the time shown. If it was stuck on your vehicle, the date can't be sooner than 7 days after.
- Instead of attending, you can plead guilty in writing and send the notification with the penalty to the court, by registered post or by hand, before the date.
- If a uniformed police officer orders you off the outside of a vehicle or to a safe place on it, comply: refusing is a separate offence (fine up to KSh 10,000 or up to 1 month in jail).
Watch out
- If a notification is ignored, the registered owner is liable unless they show they weren't in charge of the vehicle and gave the police or court all the information they had on who was.
- Wilfully or negligently driving any vehicle or animal on a footpath is also an offence.
- Breaking the bicycle rules, including carrying a dangerous load, carries a fine of up to KSh 2,000.
Who this covers
- Every driver of a motor vehicle (the pavement rule).
- Every passenger: no one may ride on the steps, roof or outside of any vehicle, except when testing or repairing it.
- Cyclists: one passenger at most, seated on a fixed carrier or a passenger step.
Official sources (1)
- Traffic Act, Cap. 403 (Revised Edition 2015) infotradekenya.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026