Dear motorist, your possible innocence may not count
From left, Lee Kinyanjui, the chairman of the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA), former Traffic Police Commandant Samuel Kimaru and Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore during the presentation of speed cameras to the Traffic department at Safaricom's offices in Nairobi on November 26, 2013. FILE PHOTO | NATION
What you need to know:
- To sum up: an ordinary motorist, going about normal life, not posing any specified danger, is lied to, arrested, effectively abducted, ordered to break the law (by paying cash), delayed, intimidated, subjected to additional expense in obtaining a distant court representative, and overcharged for an alleged offence that was never proved.
So far, the best thing the NTSA has ever done is to revive the “minor offences” provision of the Traffic Act – by publishing a list of offences, setting fixed penalties for each one, and introducing instant fines using only mobile money.
That will not stop bribes being asked for or offered, but it should limit those transactions to those whose value systems do not find the practice obnoxious. Decent people would far prefer to promptly pay their fixed on-the-spot penalty.
This procedure should also prevent the even more specious processes of arrest, vehicle seizure and escalated intimidation designed to encourage a hard-cash rent-a-pardon. The NTSA forbids any and all of that.
But while the ideas are commendable, their execution is awful. The list of minor offences is woefully incomplete. The penalties are sometimes grossly anomalous. No requirement is set for on-the-spot “evidence”; all motorists are assumed to be liars and cheats and all policemen are deemed to be paragons of integrity (why would anyone think otherwise?). And the mobile money/no-arrest provisions? Ha! Ha! Ha!
The latest wheeze to reach this column’s mailbag: Lady driver stopped. Accused of exceeding the speed limit by 16 kph (a “jogging” margin). In the absence of any evidence, policeman offers to issue a “written warning”… but that must be done at the police station.
Driver agrees to policeman entering the vehicle to go there. At the station, driver is formally charged with speeding and pays bond of Sh5,000 … in cash (the police’s mobile money system is “not working”). The subsequent court (still without substantive evidence) imposes a further fine of Sh10,000; the bond is not discounted or refunded (perhaps because nowhere is it officially recorded!)
To sum up: an ordinary motorist, going about normal life, not posing any specified danger, is lied to, arrested, effectively abducted, ordered to break the law (by paying cash), delayed, intimidated, subjected to additional expense in obtaining a distant court representative, and overcharged for an alleged offence that was never proved.
Is that okay, NTSA? Government? Police Commissioner? Society? So, decent (but sometimes fallible) motorists, what can you do? First try not to break the speed limit (however inappropriate or unmarked it might be). Two, it’s not about justice or safety. It’s about money. Nothing else.
Third, carry the NTSA rules in your glovebox, including the police report form in quadruplicate, a colour photocopy of your driving licence, a mobile phone with not less than Sh10,000, a pen, and a piece of paper.
Fourth, be polite, friendly and think about the “record” button on your mobile phone (or, better still, your IPad video or swiveled dash-cam).
Fifth, recognise your possible innocence is not on the agenda. Agree to pay the fixed fine/bond by mobile money and get your copy of the report form. Paying (or receiving) cash in this context is against the law.
Arrest for a minor offence is against the law. A policeman entering you car with regard to a minor offence is against the law. Intimidation or undue delay is against the law. In-car cameras and recorders are not, per se, against the law. Don’t expect any of that to make any difference. Pay, and get on with what’s left of your wretched life, you miserable sinner!
