Each festive season, hundreds of Kenyans die on the roads. It’s a sad tale, yet familiar a one. It is almost obvious that a big number of Kenyans will be killed or maimed on our roads as they dash upcountry to celebrate whatever holiday it is.
Christmas is the worst, as virtually everyone hits the road to travel to the village for some much-deserved relaxation with the folks back home.
The one enduring symptom that our city-dwellers have arrived in the village is also the clue to why there are so many accidents over this period: most upcountry bars run out of alcohol well before the holidays are over. City people, it appears, show up at the village with only one intention in mind: to drink themselves silly!
It would be fine if it stopped there, but it doesn’t. Our inebriated city folk then decide to visit each other’s upcountry homes, driving under influence, at high speed, usually at night, on roads they are not too familiar with. Some — having run out of beer at the village pub — even hazard a trip to the nearest town.
Curb accidents
The results of such boozed-up nocturnal trips are reflected in our accident stats at the end of the holiday season. Maybe it’s time to get radical about it. We know that poorly-maintained cars are partly responsible for the high accident rates in the country, so we have put in place some fairly stringent vehicle checks to try to curb accidents as a result of poor vehicle conditions.
We also know that speed kills, so around the country’s roads you’ll run into speed bumps designed to either slow your down or launch you into space, depending on whether you slow down for the bump or not.
The next logical step surely has to be the obvious one: reduce or even ban the sale of alcohol during festive seasons upcountry. Accompany this with another rule outlawing the ferrying of alcohol in cars from cities to the countryside, and our holidays will be safer and the death toll much less than is the case right now!