Speed limits and speeding penalties
Traffic Act; Traffic Rules · sources read 3 Oct 2026
You may not drive faster than 50 km/h on any road in a trading centre, township, municipality or city, or by a school or a designated school crossing. Speeding can bring a court fine of up to KSh 100,000 (up to KSh 20,000 in a school zone), and going up to 20 km/h over the limit has fixed fines from a warning to KSh 10,000.
- Deadline
- 48 hours from being served the police notification, to attend court.
- Where
- Charges go to the traffic court; police serve the notice. Report dangerous drivers to the police on 999, 112 or 911.
Steps
- If police stop you for speeding, they serve you a police notification of traffic offence, which requires you to attend court within 48 hours.
- For going up to 20 km/h over the limit, the fixed fines are: 1-5 km/h a warning, 6-10 km/h KSh 500, 11-15 km/h KSh 3,000, 16-20 km/h KSh 10,000.
- If you deny the charge, the notice asks you to attend the traffic court on a set date to answer it.
- To report a dangerous speeding driver, call the police on 999, 112 or 911.
Watch out
- You cannot be convicted of speeding only on one witness's opinion that you were going too fast.
- A first speeding conviction can cost your licence for at most 1 month, a second for at most 3 months, unless you had a reckless or dangerous driving conviction in the past 3 years.
- Road authorities must put up signs showing where a 50 km/h zone starts and ends.
Who this covers
- Applies to every driver, and to an owner or person in charge who lets someone else drive too fast. Each class of vehicle also has its own maximum speed.
Official sources (3)
- Traffic Act (Cap. 403) new.kenyalaw.org · read 3 Oct 2026
- The Traffic (Minor Offences) Rules (L.N. 161 of 2016) new.kenyalaw.org · read 3 Oct 2026
- National Police Service - Kenya Police kenyapolice.go.ke · read 3 Oct 2026