EDITORIAL: Police graft craze driving up road death numbers

About 5,000 people have been killed in road accidents this year alone.

That sobering figure represents only a fraction of the eventual deaths from road accidents because thousands more die in hospital within days or months of the accidents.

The emotional and economic pain driver recklessness causes families and the economy has reached levels that must now make the issue a national disaster, which needs serious review at the highest level.

The recklessness of motorists and public service vehicles beggars belief.

At the centre of the carnage is the hydra-headed ogre of corruption that permeates all strata of our lives.

The police, who ordinarily would be expected to deal with the total collapse of law and order on our roads, have morphed into leeches fuelling disaster by the stupidity and craze for bribes instead of enforcing the law.

Any casual observer will realise that Kenya’s roads are very popular with the police on account of the number of roadblocks whose key performance indicator is the cash collected each day.

Chief Justice Martha Koome has wisely deployed, this festive season, mobile courts so errant motorists can be punished on the spot.

We hope this strategy will reduce the opportunity for bribe taking and save lives.

Quote of the day: “Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.” —The body of first US President and Founding Father George Washington was interred at Mount Vernon on December 18, 1799