Nairobi News

The headline last week read; Matatu drivers to get mental tests. I can’t seem to swallow this new ‘measure’ to curb the outrageous driving habits of matatus; it’s stuck like a ball of cotton wool in my throat.

That old burning feeling of agitation comes back which I usually associate with road rage. This new requirement, aimed at restoring discipline among drivers, will come under the incoming National Transport and Safety Authority transport regulations.

But we all know that it’s not going to work.

We have had countless crackdowns, Bills and penalties put forward, but none of them have had an impact on matatus.

The situation has reached such a level of ridiculousness that ‘Tweeps’ (twitter users) have taken to the social media platform to demand action by Evans Kidero.

Most of these demands insist that matatu drivers be treated the same as all other motorists (seriously, these guys can drive all the way down a sidewalk in front of a cop who might as well pat them on the back and wave them on!) and not get away with their bad behaviour.

I can’t help but think that we all need to take a different approach. It won’t do to simply hope that the cops will eventually stop these road hooligans, there’s no point in wishing you had eggs in your car to pelt them with and resorting to violent irrational behaviour as a result of their stupidity will just land you in trouble.

The solution lies with the passengers.

Like all ‘revolutions’ (I would say that matatus driving like human beings is revolutionary) this needs to come from ‘the people’…those who hold the true power. In this case that belongs to passengers.

As passengers, if we see that matatus are causing traffic jams and accidents with their overlapping and moronic driving techniques then we should demand that the driver stops and we be given our money back.

Can you imagine the changes on our roads if they that simple order was given? Think about it.

The roads would be safer, less congested and Nairobi would be so much more pleasant.