Banning night bus travel ‘won’t end road carnage’

Kenya: It is unfortunate that Kenyans continue to die and get maimed on our roads at an alarming rate. I wish to condole with the families and friends who have lost loved ones in these accidents.

Whereas some accidents are unavoidable, most are as a result of human error and can be stopped. However, the way government officials come out with a readymade list of whom blame even before investigations are conducted is worrying.

It is important to give the concerned organs time to find out exactly what happened so that a long-term solution can be found. Grounding a whole fleet of buses, that is licensed to operate, inconveniences both travellers and investors who have sacrificed to ensure that people and goods can move and the economy can grow. To put it another way, does the occurrence of an accident, however nasty, make a company or driver automatically guilty?

It’s awkward for government officials to allege that a transport company has been flouting traffic rules. These officials should instead tell Kenyans who denied them the power to take action. Public transport vehicles even increase fares at will citing demand and fleece innocent wananchi as government watches. Why doesn’t the government allow the same with bread and sugar during Christmas and other festivities if demand and supply is the sole determinant?

I am a regular traveller along Narok-Nairobi road and what I know is that there are traffic police officers on the route with speed guns. Many offending drivers have been nabbed and prosecuted. Road side courts have also been very active of late even though people are not sure whether they are there to  ensure safety or to collect revenue through hefty fines. It is not true that police are not working. ‘Overwhelmed’ is a better term.

What government needs to do is evaluate how it is enforcing traffic rules. It should consider having officers on night shift, especially at roadblocks, to ensure compliance with traffic rules, rather than banning night travel knowing very well that we aspire to have a 24-hour economy.

{Job Momanyi, Nairobi}

The Government wants to dupe us that banning of night travel by public service vehicles will help curb road carnage. It won’t.

What needs to be done is to reinforce effective traffic rules and follow them through.

Banning night travel will hurt our economy in a way that we can’t afford. Kenyans need jobs and the road transport sector provides plenty of that. Many business people prefer night transport.

It is unfortunate that we have lost 41 lives that could have been saved had all those concerned played their roles effectively. Everyone is to blame for the rising cases of road carnage in the country.

The Narok accident is only a reminder that corruption is rife on our roads.

Setting up of mobile courts along our major roads was a bad idea since it slows down road transport while inconveniencing many motorists. This is a ploy by traffic officers to enrich themselves.

This bus had 12 excess passengers! Who was to blame?

{James Okong’o, Nairobi}