Last week on Wednesday i almost witnessed a road accident after a public service vehicle almost hit a pedestrian along Race Course Road, near OTC Bus station. The middle aged man was crossing the road on a zebra crossing towards Tuskys supermarket when a 14 seater matatu approached the pedestrians zebra crossing area in full speed, ignoring the man, who was carrying a heavy carton on his left shoulder.
The pedestrian in the process had to part ways with his load to save his precious life. The matatu rammed into the carton box and destroyed all the utensils that were in it, leaving the young man counting losses.
The last time i checked, traffic rules clearly state that motor vehicles should slow down while approaching zebra crossings, even if there are no people crossing the road at that moment. This is to avoid pedestrians being hit by vehicles on the roads. However, this is not always the case in Nairobi. Over speeding is the norm of the day and psv matatu drivers are just after picking and dropping passengers to their respective destinations, without obeying zebra crossing rules, and some also ignore the stop sign signals by traffic lights.
Thumps up to the Nairobi City council for installing CCTV cameras along some streets and avenues within the city to capture rogue drivers who defy traffic rules. I hope this will change the daily routine of recklessness by motorists in the city.
Some of the most abused zebra crossing zones in Nairobi include; The zebra crossing zones along Haile Selassie Avenue towards Muthurwa market, Race Cource road near OTC bus station and the zebra crossing on Ronald Ngala avenue near Nakumatt supermarket.
Pedestrians are always forced to wait until the roads are clear in order to cross the roads on the zebra crossing zones, which, according to the traffic rules should not be the case. It is the vehicles that should be slowing down to allow pedestrians to cross the roads at such points.Unfortunately, i have never seen traffic police officers ensuring that these notorious matatu drivers don't break the rules on the road.
I think it is a wake up call to the traffic police officers to enforce traffic rules in order to stop impunity on our roads and to prevent accidents from happening due to reckless driving.
The pedestrian in the process had to part ways with his load to save his precious life. The matatu rammed into the carton box and destroyed all the utensils that were in it, leaving the young man counting losses.
The last time i checked, traffic rules clearly state that motor vehicles should slow down while approaching zebra crossings, even if there are no people crossing the road at that moment. This is to avoid pedestrians being hit by vehicles on the roads. However, this is not always the case in Nairobi. Over speeding is the norm of the day and psv matatu drivers are just after picking and dropping passengers to their respective destinations, without obeying zebra crossing rules, and some also ignore the stop sign signals by traffic lights.
Thumps up to the Nairobi City council for installing CCTV cameras along some streets and avenues within the city to capture rogue drivers who defy traffic rules. I hope this will change the daily routine of recklessness by motorists in the city.
Some of the most abused zebra crossing zones in Nairobi include; The zebra crossing zones along Haile Selassie Avenue towards Muthurwa market, Race Cource road near OTC bus station and the zebra crossing on Ronald Ngala avenue near Nakumatt supermarket.
Pedestrians are always forced to wait until the roads are clear in order to cross the roads on the zebra crossing zones, which, according to the traffic rules should not be the case. It is the vehicles that should be slowing down to allow pedestrians to cross the roads at such points.Unfortunately, i have never seen traffic police officers ensuring that these notorious matatu drivers don't break the rules on the road.
I think it is a wake up call to the traffic police officers to enforce traffic rules in order to stop impunity on our roads and to prevent accidents from happening due to reckless driving.
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