In some cities in the world, driving slowly can land you into trouble. [Photo/cdn.theatlantic.com]
It is common sense that while driving, one should pay attention to everything around them.
That is understandable to any human who is not a certified nincompoop.
If someone is driving while talking on the phone, they really don’t understand the dangers they put themselves and the rest of us in, and if they do, they don’t care.
This makes them not only suicidal but criminally negligent as well.
Such people should be apprehended and their cars were taken away to be recycled into lampposts.
Every country has a driving culture and majority of Kenyan drivers are consciously reckless at best.
For instance, it is reasonable to answer your phone while stuck in traffic, not that one should admit to doing such a thing.
But it is another matter entirely to start driving off from a stationary point while on the phone.
We have seen people get into their cars while talking on the phone, and instead of finishing the call then set off, they just set off while on the phone!
Kenyans love to go on about how the city council can’t keep the streets clean, yet will have no qualms about chucking a sweet wrapper or cigarette butt out of the window.
While some may argue that a banana peel flung from a moving vehicle will soon decompose, it is an eyesore, nonetheless.
Minimum speed limits in developed countries keep traffic flow consistent and smooth, which reduce chances of an accident while accelerating and braking.
Smooth flowing cars on the highway are at their most efficient and that’s why highways are also known as expressways.
If the speed limit is 100kph on a clear road at 2 am, it is fine to drive even at 30kph.
However on the same road at rush hour, doing 30kph is insensitive to drivers who are in a rush and are stuck behind you.
On a highway, two cars driving at 30 kph side by side can hold up traffic for kilometers behind them.
The most painful thing, however, is that the NTSA and traffic police know all these things, yet there is not a single minimum speed limit sign on our roads.
More and more cities around the world are penalizing drivers for driving too slowly, once we are done with the never-ending political fiasco, maybe we should reassess the common sense laws that govern driver behavior.