Magazine
I listened to one over-enthusiastic Subaru owner recently explaining how he spends only Ksh500 a week on fuel, commuting daily from Makadara to the city centre. Haven’t heard such bull crap in a long time. But then this is a peculiar Kenyan habit. Everyone thinks he knows the most and best and often, lets this ego determine road manners – or lack thereof.
We’ll switch lanes and overtake even where there is a continuous yellow line, drive at the middle of the road, undertake, overlap, hoot even when traffic is bumper to bumper, jump red light and sneer at those who’ve right of way, drive at 120Kph or faster within the urban centres, stop to chat with a friend we’ve just met driving the opposite direction. Simple everyday mistakes which only exacerbate the traffic jams.
If we were to add ‘road discipline’ to our list of New Year resolutions, we’d make our roads safer, less stressful, traffic flow smoother, don’t you think?
Though Western countries, the main car consumers, are turning away from reliance on the car (This year is already being touted as ‘the year of the bicycle), Africa is gearing up for increase in the number of vehicles. Glen Edmunds, professional driver trainer was emphatic in an interview with the BBC. Cars are still a status symbol in Kenya so Kenyans aren’t about to get rid of their rides, credit crunch or not. Some experts are predicting that the Chinese vehicles will enhance their presence this year with introduction of more brands, particularly in the private saloon category to compete with Japanese used imports. That’s why we’ve dedicated this inaugural 2009 issue to the Chinese car industry, from the 125CC Haojin motorcycle to the Foton prime mover.
Well, on the used imports market, we are predicting increased intensive competition among Japanese car exporters for the Kenyan market and this is likely to push prices down. We’ve outlined the reason in our local news pages. Please continue giving us feedback, whether praise or criticism. We welcome them all.
