The night travel ban is retrogressive and threatens the 24-hour economy
What you need to know:
- I am positive that at one time or another we have witnessed a red plate car, a GK car or a PSV break one or more traffic rules, but we never said anything because the matter does not affect us.
- A ban on night travel risks impoverishing many innocent, hardworking entrepreneurs. Such decisions take this great country back to the 60s.
- Funny enough, the makers of such backward decisions have the luxury of taxpayer-funded private cars and drivers, to chauffer them and their families wherever they want to go whilst we are inconvenienced.
Noam Chomsky once said that there are no magic answers, no miraculous methods to overcome the problems we face, just the familiar ones: honest search for understanding, education, organization, action ... and the kind of commitment that will persist despite the temptations of disillusionment, despite many failures and only limited successes, inspired by the hope of a brighter future.
This could not be truer than in Kenya. As a country we have failed to solve the myriad problems we face, notably road carnage that seems to have gone out of control in the past few months.
As a nation, we epitomize the ostrich that buries its head in the sand. That is how we Kenyans handle stuff. It’s not my problem until and unless it knocks on my door.
WE NEVER SAID ANYTHING
I am sure each and every single driver in Kenya has encountered a drunk driver who was arrogant and violent, but decided to stomach the incident instead of reporting it. I am more than 100 per cent sure that we have at one time or another boarded a PSV that was overloaded or driven recklessly and we never said anything about it.
I am positive that at one time or another we have witnessed a red plate car, a GK car or a PSV break one or more traffic rules, but we never said anything because the matter does not affect us. We have witnessed hit and run accidents that we never bothered to report because that was not us or our relative.
I am more than positive that we have boarded a PSV vehicle where the driver was on the phone all through and we never did say anything because we wanted to get home on time.
This is what ails us a country. We take no personal responsibility to ensure that the rule of law is upheld unless and until it affects us. As individuals, we have failed this country and failed ourselves, and the government has rubber stamped this failure with a big capital F in red ink.
TREATING A BROKEN LEG
The issue of road carnage needs sober, articulate debate to unravel causes and not just solve the symptoms which are many, and which the police and the government at large react to.
Banning night travel by PSVs is akin to treating a broken leg using paracetamol. It alleviates the pain for a moment, but you will need to see a doctor for a plaster to restore the broken leg to its normal state.
A ban on night travel ultimately cripples the entrepreneurship that thrives on a 24-hour economy in Kenya. It does not help reduce road carnage. All that the decision has done is bring suffering to entrepreneurs and travellers who have no other means of transportation.
Funny enough, the makers of such backward decisions have the luxury of taxpayer-funded private cars and drivers, to chauffer them and their families wherever they want to go whilst we are inconvenienced. I say this boldly because the true causes of the out-of-control road carnage are well known and they are simple, yet the government has totally neglected to address them.
To me, lack of road signage is the basic cause of road accidents in Kenya, especially at night. Driving to the western parts of this country is a headache during the day as the roads lack road signs and markings. Now imagine how this looks at night. The same is true when you drive to the Coast.
BAGS OF MAIZE
If the government addressed the issue of road signage, they would reduce road accidents by at least 40 per cent. The other issue, which the government has totally ignored is the fact that most, if not all PSVs do not adhere to modern safety principles, which is why most buses crash with such a high death toll.
The third issue is bad road construction. Through corruption, the road contractors do a shoddy job, pay off the relevant stakeholders to approve the roads, and disappear. This is evident with stretches like the Salgaa bit, which is the leading black spot in terms of accidents in the country.
Corrupt police officers are another cause. How do you explain the fact that we have gazetted road blocks where the police allow over loaded, un-roadworthy PSVs to pass through?
Many PSVs are driven by drivers who are not properly trained, whose records are wanting. The PSV conductors treat passengers like bags of maize and we say nothing. You all remember when a conductor pushed a woman from a vehicle to death simply because she couldn’t raise a fare of KSh10.
As a public, we have let chaos take over the transport sector as the rule of law is trampled upon just because the immediate issue does not touch on us. When it does, we are ignored because we never spoke up when the other person was affected.
The aforementioned issues are the leading causes of road carnage in the country, not night travel.
A ban on night travel risks impoverishing many innocent, hardworking entrepreneurs. Such decisions take this great country back to the 60’s. They kill the essence of entrepreneurship and deal a great blow to the development of a 24-hour economy.
Road carnage is an issue that needs sober solutions, which means going back to the basics. It’s as simple as that.
Twitter: @sokoanalyst
