Opinion:We need innovative, humane traffic laws in Kenya

If you are a driver of any vehicle (even a mkokoteni is a vehicle), a makanga, a bodaboda rider, a cyclist, a passenger, or a pedestrian, traffic laws engulf your life and the risk of being arrested, detained for hours or even days, dragged to court and fined massive sums of money, or sent to jail, is a real one.

The massive increase in fines for traffic offences since 2012 has created havoc all over the country, with the members of the police force using duress of heavy fines as a bait to further roadside corruption at a level unprecedented and uncontrollable by entities like the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.