Why you need to mind your language on the road

Do officers of the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) subscribe to the principle; 'if you cannot beat them join them'? I ask because even though NTSA is charged with the task of ensuring our roads become safe, its own statistics confirm it has failed.

In the first 30 days of 2017, at least 109 pedestrians lost their lives compared to 103 in the same period last year. The statistics show 164 people sustained serious injuries compared to 147 in the same period the previous year. NTSA officers work alongside the country's reigning corruption champions and all indications are, they have been co-opted into the practice.

There has been no slackening in the taking of bribes from motorists. Jalopies grace our roads in spite of the traffic police officers and the National Transport and Safety Authority officers who, too, grace our roads. So common are accidents in Kenya, a day hardly goes by without a ghastly accident being reported.

Thereafter, while explaining the possible causes of the mishap, NTSA's vocabulary, the police's and that of the media, are uniquely static. You hear about vehicles 'speeding', 'over speeding', 'overlapping', drivers arrested 'drink-driving' or 'drunk-driving'. Similarly, 'careless driving', 'overtaking' and 'speed bumps' or 'over loading' are blamed.

'Over speeding' is routinely blamed for many accidents. But the question is, what is to over speed? The preposition 'over' describes a level above a given point, standard or threshold. Where specifically indicated, motorists are obligated to observe specified speed limits. Within towns and approaches to market centers, for instance, the speed limit is 50kph. On highways, the limit is pegged at 110kph.

But while anything above those limitations should be described as speeding or simply going over the speed limit, the English/ Oxford dictionary seems to acknowledge 'over speeding' by describing it as; that which travels too quickly; that exceeds a speed limit. Also: (of an engine) that turns over more quickly than is safe for the gearing. This is understandable.

While updating dictionaries, it has become the practice to pick the most common and widely used words that dominate day to day conversations in specific regions across the world. That way, words like 'panga' and 'boda boda' found space in the dictionary. Soon, perhaps, 'overlapping', a Kenyan corruption of the word 'overlap' (to cover the edge partly) will find its pride of place.

Motorists and pedestrians use 'overlapping' to describe the tendency by public service vehicle drivers, especially, to drive on the wrong side of the road; on walk ways or any open space where they shouldn't be.

There are different views on the correct usage of 'drink-driving' and 'drunk-driving' whenever reports of inebriated drivers, having been arrested by traffic police officers, appear in the media.

In my thinking, because 'drinking' denotes action, to say drink-driving would mean the driver was arrested because he was drinking while driving. On the other hand, the adjective 'drunk' denotes a state hence, the drivers were arrested in a state of being drunk behind the wheel, thus endangering the lives of road users.

A discussion with a colleague introduced a different perspective. Drink-driving, written as one word and not drink driving, as two distinct words, is the correct form. Conversely, writing drunk-driving as one word would be wrong as opposed to drunk driving as two words.

Cases have been reported where drivers not conversant with the conditions of certain roads or those who have failed to pay attention to road signs have caused fatal accidents.

You have no doubt heard of road bumps being blamed for causing accidents. An example is the Karai, Naivasha accident that claimed 42 lives in December 2016. The culprit was said to have been an unmarked road bump. By themselves, bumps cannot cause accidents.

The term road bumps has been used so often, it is the acceptable terminology that forms part of our daily discussions. However, there are variations to bumps, the difference being in shape.

A road hump for instance, is a gradual raised rounded top surface across a road used to slow down motorists. Speed tables are equally raised but as the name suggests, have a flat table like top. Bumps are more abrupt.

In addition we have rumble strips (commonly referred to as the small bumps). These are slightly raised surfaces, closely spaced, running across the road in lines of three or four that forewarn a driver of either a road bump or road hump only a few feet away.

Mr Chagema is a correspondent at [email protected]