Probox kills image but drives business

Image is everything, it is said, but I want to think that does not apply when you are behind the wheel of a Toyota Probox.

I have painfully said what many motorists feel about a majority of — not all — Toyota Probox owners.

Think of any bad thing on our roads and the Probox will not be far off.

There is a consensus that Toyota Probox destroys your image but builds your business.

It is said Probox drivers often hurtle down the road with little regard for other road users.

They do not even respect other more powerful makes and that why you will find a Probox driver tailgating and flashing German vehicle to speed up in an obviously dangerous section of the road.

It has not helped matters that miraa traders have now adopted the Probox as their vehicle of choice. 

Across the country, Probox are called all sorts of names, and in and around the lakeside city, they are called olwenda, which means cockroach.

That is because of the way they move on tarmac, more like a roach making a dash from harm’s way. Even in big cities, the drivers of Proboxes appear to have remained the most irksome lot.

Nowadays, every motorist knows that a Probox driver must be treated with the same caution as a matatu driver.

It is a no brainer that the Probox is deficient in the looks department because it is meant for shipping cargo. But trust Kenyans to keep raising the bar.

Last week, three people were arrested for carrying 80 children on a school trip in three Proboxes.

One of them had 30 pupils, another one had 35 and the other 15 —  and shockingly, there was luggage too, according to Saudi Ochiengo, the Trans Mara Traffic Commandant.

Ochiengo described the incident as shocking, inhuman and a gross violation of traffic regulations.

Just how did someone take the steering wheel of a station wagon with 30 poor souls packed in it like sardines?

I believe that even during the days of slave trade, even the slaves merited better treatment than what these three Probox drivers and the teachers conspired to do to the young ones.

The first time I heard that the vehicle usually carries 14 adults in some parts of Kenya, I disputed  story.

It would not take three months before I became a passenger in one. We were three passengers on the front seat, and I was a stride, meaning that the gear lever was between my legs.

Whenever the the driver needed to shift gears, I felt like he was exploring my family jewels.

The trip was short but I have never been so relieved to get out of a vehicle! Perhaps it is such things that make many people dislike the Probox. I am told that some of those who detest the Probox do not even own any kind of moving contraption on wheels  — not even a  bicycle.