Let’s combat disorder on our roads

As I agonised in a traffic jam on Mbagathi Road one recent morning, I heard a siren behind me. I assumed an ambulance wanted to pass and I pulled off road to give way. Other drivers did so too.

But it turned out to be the vice president’s motorcade

With the help of his lead escort car, he was making good, even though slow progress. In an effort to outdo others, some cheeky drivers took advantage and tagged behind his motorcade.

This upset other drivers as it escalated disorder.

Traffic flow is grossly disrupted when dignitaries have to be escorted to their destinations. It just adds to Nairobi’s traffic jam agony .

But perhaps if these dignitaries were left to suffer the harsh fate we do on our roads daily, Kenya could have sorted out the problem faster.

Jams and bad driving have become a trade mark on our roads. Many people have lost lives and limbs. The country loses big through preventable road carnage. It’s such a frustrating and numbing experience. And it’s almost beginning to look ‘normal’.

Sadly, even the police seem helpless.

Fathom for instance the motorists mentioned above tagging behind the VP’s motorcade, which is under the command of a senior police officer yet nothing happened. It speaks volumes about attitudes from motorists and the police. But its worse.

I used Mombasa Road recently and was shocked to see that since the side walks are now smooth and wide, drivers veer off road and overtake from the side walks, throwing pedestrians and traffic on regular lanes into confusion.

Here in Nairobi, I have noticed that the City Council erects short posts on side walks to deter public and private vehicle drivers from doing so. But then this makes the pavements ugly and dangerous.

It looks uncivilised to do a nice pavement one moment then shortly afterwards erect short posts on it. It costs extra money too.

But it’s road manners that aggravate our situation. And I have noticed the problem cuts across……the young and the old; the literate and illiterate, the senior and junior. Madness reigns once we hit the road.

We oversleep, yet expect to ‘fly’ over other cars as we dash our children to schools or try to beat deadlines to the office.

In the process, we overlap and drive straight into oncoming traffic and cause gridlock. Then we sit there waiting for the police to ‘save’ us. We text, we drink and drive.