Avoid Arrogance Avenue

By tony Ngare

Nairobi city has turned into a cake with different ministries and Government departments demanding a piece of it. Expectably, wrangling has ensued between the City Council of Nairobi and Nairobi Metropolitan Ministry on whose right it is to call the shots.

All was well with the beautification initiatives until the Metropolitan ministry let the cat out of the bag on the intention to interfere with the parking fees in a bid to decongest the Central Business District (CBD). The city fathers realised the cash cow was about to be grabbed and raised a red flag. However, to the ordinary motorist all these are mere shenanigans that won’t solve the problem.

Firstly, some Government official had the temerity to suggest the beautification was restoring Nairobi’s lost glory as the ‘Green City in the Sun’.
Pray, how do you turn a city green when you uproot flowers and vegetation and replace them with stones and pebbles?

Plain old courtesy

Talking to a couple of friends last weekend, it dawned on me that what will solve traffic snarl ups in the city is neither the grand statements issued by Government officials nor having more traffic policemen on the road. It is something much cheaper and more realistic to implement — plain old courtesy on the road.

Common courtesy on Kenyan roads is non-existent! A drive along any major road in Kenya will prove this. How many times have you tried in vain to change lanes on a highway? Every time you make a move to turn, despite having indicated your intention, motorists from behind come blaring horns at full blast.

For ages, matatu drivers have been vilified and demonised, but the private motorists are no better. At least you half-expect a stunt any time from a matatu, but when the same is executed by a motorist in smart office wear, it takes one aback.

Paint boxes

If you have been keen enough, you would have noticed that the City Council was recently forced to paint boxes at T-junctions and cross roads with instructions not to enter the painted box if the junction is not clear. Such instructions should only apply to kindergarteners.

However, countless times, I have watched with horror as motorists block a road at a T-junction and inconvenience traffic coming from the side and, to make matters worse, the driver is unmoved by his adolescent behaviour. He simply increases the volume on the car stereo and winds up the car window.

Many of the freak accidents that occur at junctions are down to the drivers’ inability to exercise humility and courtesy on the road. While one driver adopts a macho type approach to driving, the other sticks to the ‘it’s my rightful turn to move or it’s my turn to go’ approach.

When none wants to wait for just two seconds and avoid wasting almost half day at the scene of incident and many more hours chasing mechanics at garages for repairs, both motorists end up colliding.

Up to 50 per cent of urban area accidents are not due to speeding or carelessness but arrogance and lack of courtesy on the roads.

Find less traffic

If you want to participate in alleviating the traffic congestion around urban areas, opt to take Courteous Street instead of the Arrogance Avenue and see change become a reality. After all you can rest assured that along Courteous Street, you are likely to find less traffic with majority of Kenyan drivers having cruised along Arrogance Avenue.

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