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We live in a city where there is competition between vehicles and human beings. In most rural areas there is usually competition between animals and human beings.
However, in Nairobi, its competition between people and matatus and lions from the Nairobi National Park.
Now in this city everything is trying to kill you from the matatus on the streets to motorcycles, air pollution and even sukumawiki gives you cancer!
Everyone wants to get a head of the other, matatus or the people on foot. The roads seem so busy and matutus seem to be in a hurry that even at a zebra crossing they don’t give people a chance to cross. Unfortunately, even the private vehicles are doing the same.
I have seen places where a matatu driver increases speed when someone is crossing the road.
This is mostly done at Koja bus station on Tom Mboya Street. Many people have been lucky not to be hit by the vehicles due to recklessness on our roads especially in the city center.
Have you been at that point where you are in the middle of the road crossing and a driver sees you but they don’t slow down so you start running?
I usually pity our ladies running in heels to escape death. This is psychological torture.
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More than1000 people died in Kenya due to road accidents in 2015. 845 of these people were pedestrians and 225 were drivers.
These are so many people who die due to recklessness on our roads. Yet very little action is taken to prevent the madness.
The county government should be able to come up with strategies to prevent the irrational behavior.
I agree with the governor that matatus should be out of the city center however, he should provide a convenient place for them to park.
My question for the drivers is what will it cost them to stop and let pedestrians cross the road?
Do they know the meaning of zebra crossing? Why are they competing with people on foot when they are driving?
And to pedestrians kindly wait for your turn to cross. If everyone is responsible then we won’t need to compete on the roads. Remember ‘the road doesn’t belong to any one’s mother’.
