The thing that is strange is that two of the top four things we seem to pray most fervently about (in my circles) are both legal entities; meaning they are anchored in the constitution and as such should be on our side. Unless you ascribe to the belief that the average citizen is a law breaking hooligan.
Those two institution are the Traffic Police (which is why walking is so liberating) and our beloved City Council of Nairobi (CCN, Kanjo). A quick aside about Kanjo is I remember my grandmother who used to run a modest hotel in Kariakor (modest by Kariakor standards) wasn't a huge an of Kanjo and here we are a full four generations later; loathing their very being - see things have barely changed.
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| Kenyan Traffic Police |
Back to the main aim of this article the Traffic Police - now the piece of the constitution that governs our nations roads is contained in the Traffic Act 2009 - at 232 pages its a real gem of a bedtime read. In fact judging by the scant regard that road users, designers, builders & maintainers have had for it - the case can be made that bedtime reading is what it has been used for. Because as a friend of mine normally says - you will find anything literally on the road.
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| KENYA TRAFFIC LEGISLATION |
To curb the over abundance of anything on our roads our erstwhile MP's created an amendment to the Traffic Act 2009 (TA-09) called the Traffic Amendment Bill 2012 (TAA-12) we applauded it we celebrated it because it served two purposes - one it showed us the MP's were doing their job and it was going to bring sanity to our roads - reduce the over abundance of anything on our roads. What TAA-12 did was to redefine rules and penalties for some offences in the TA-09 and add some new ones that hadn't been covered previously.
The average safe & sane driver never thinks they'd run afoul of the new laws; we all download them, read them on social media and considered ourselves duly warned and updated. Besides the people who drive drunk, barrel through petrol stations and drive on curbs are the anything - the people this law was meant to regulate and impoverish
Before Christmas eve I honestly hadn't given a second thought to the Traffic Act - I considered myself a safe sane driver - most people concurred that I was but that is a story for another day.
In closing I have so far learned the following;
- The law is vast detailed in its grasp and glaring its rigidity
- The law is actually on your side - it's designed to protect you; your dignity and your rights
- The law is supposed to make being a Kenyan easy
Now what the law is designed to be and what it actually is very different because of the people who apply the law - not pointing any fingers at all.
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| The environment under which drivers operate. |
Based on the image on the left drivers operate in the Kenyan Driving Environment where
- Traffic Act 2009/12 - defines the rules
- Kenya Police - enforce the rules
- Driving Public - use the roads based on the rules
Should an offence occur then:
- Traffic Act - defines the offences
- Kenya Police - record offences by the Driving Public
- Judiciary of Kenya - listen to evidence presented by the police then decide on the punishment due (if any) based on the limits defined in the Traffic Act
- Not illustrated is the Legislature who draft the Traffic Act with input from stake holders.
I shall continue to shed light on how the Traffic Legal process works based on my interactions....
