Drivers take multi-tasking skills to the roads

By Tony Ngare

It is agreed that talking on mobile phone while driving is bad behaviour that could easily land one in hot soup if not a cold room.

Despite the scary images of car wreckages that traffic police have put near roundabouts, motorists continue pulling stunts on roads. A wise moviemaker would not require a stuntman in a scene involving dangerous driving because most Kenyan drivers would easily pass the test.

Recently, I witnessed a scene that left me wondering why a motorist would push the boundaries of multi-tasking that far.

A female motorist was on phone at the same time scribbling something on a notebook she was forcing to rest on the steering wheel.

In dead traffic, such multi-tasking is normal. But, believe it or not, this woman was doing all these while trying to squeeze in between matatus at the ever-busy Mombasa Road.

Probably, I would not have noticed the woman’s stunt, had she not almost knocked down an old woman crossing the road. The old woman got really angry and yelled unprintable words.

I bet the motorist yelled bits of expletives in retaliation.

Multi-tasking on the road

No malice intended but it seems like female drivers take the dangers of multi-tasking on the road lightly.

At Lang’ata Road recently, I caught one taking tea while on the road. She munched one samosa after the other while gulping a liquid that looked like hot tea and still had the time to keep the car at relative speed. While watching her drive while taking breakfast was uncomfortable enough, I got butterflies in the stomach with her every surge forward. At any one time she was shy from my rear bumper with a few inches to spare. Every time I switched lanes she swiftly did likewise.

She ‘terrorised’ us all the way from Carnivore turnoff up to the Mbagathi roundabout, Nairobi.

Drinking and driving

She gave a lot people a scare. The same one motorists experience when a matatu is behind.

There is an unwritten creed that matatus have right of way for obvious reasons. Why wouldn’t a motorist who notices a matatu driver fishing for things in their pocket while racing not give way?

While they are not lighting cigarettes, matatu drivers are often sorting out change for touts or flipping through tens of CDs wondering which one to play for the passengers.

Most men are also notorious for playing ‘superman’ while driving. We all know the effect of alcohol while driving. Actually one of the most refreshing media interventions I ever witnessed was the one that claimed: ‘Don’t drink and drive. If you must drink, drink milk.’

However Kenyan ‘supermen’ not only drink and drive; some drink while on the road.

I have witnessed countless times someone on the wheel while with one hand at the same time holding canned beer with the other. Such behaviour is especially notorious when groups of friends pack themselves into a car and head to camping sites and places of related ilk.

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