On a Saturday morning, I got a friend to help me run an errand. It involved driving to a destination past Kinoo in Nairobi.
The road to the destination was not tarmacked. On the way back, the car begun rattling on the uneven surface and that seemed to really irritate my mate at the wheel.
To reduce the rattle, he decided to drive faster and gunned down the narrow road lined with kiosks and houses on both sides for about 200 metres before we hit the tarmacked surface.
In our wake we left a dust storm. I could see people choking and cursing in the side mirror. In seeking the convenience of a smoother ride, we had inconvenienced a lot of people. I felt guilty as an accomplice. I should have spoken out but I didn’t.
I have been on the receiving end of such absent minding driving. Pedestrians remain invisible to most motorists. Pedestrians in Nairobi have to fend for themselves.
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Therefore, when the Nairobi governor Dr Kidero put up a Facebook post seemingly proud of the fact that he walked after getting stuck in traffic, Nairobians were outraged.
While he marveled at the traffic bottleneck, promising to intervene, no mention whatsoever was made of the trials that face the pedestrians.
In Kenya, the elite walk for charity and PR. The invisible masses walk for survival. The status of the pedestrian has always been relegated to the bottom of the pile by city planners. Sidewalks are built almost as an afterthought.
Sprint across highways
Pavements are rarely repaired. Where good pavements exist, pedestrians compete for space with boda boda riders and cyclists. According to National Transport and Safety Authority accident statistics, over 50 per cent of the casualties on our roads are pedestrians.
As expected, the pedestrians will typically be blamed for putting themselves in harms’ way. We are only just adjusting to the idea that pedestrians have rights too.
A few modern pedestrian crossings are starting to appear on Mombasa road towards the airport but by and large, pedestrians still have to sprint across highways like wildebeest crossing the Mara river.
It is quite literally survival of the fitness because Kenyan drivers have a serious sense of entitlement on the roads.
Therefore, as the governor frets on about Nairobi’s traffic nightmare, he should not forget the millions of pedestrians choking in fumes and dust behind the cars.
