Compared to South Africa, Kenya has some of the oldest motor vehicles on the roads.
A number of elderly people have maintained their cars from 1980s and despite having money they are not in a hurry to acquire the latest Germany or Japanese-made vehicles.
They prefer the reliable old 🚗. Though they are somehow disadvantaged because those old cars do not benefit from the modern fuel efficient technologies.
The laws in Kenya also facilitate the having of old cars on the road. Currently, the law allows Kenyans to import motor vehicles which are 8 years old since the year of manufacture. This is a contributing factor towards having vintage cars running on the road.
The second issue is negligence. There are many public service vehicles (PSVs) whose dashboard does not work at all. You can’t tell at what speed you are moving or what is the level of fuel in the tank.
This reminds me of one day when I was working as a translator for a doctorate student.
We were cruising from Nyamira to Ekerenyo with Nyamusi being our final destination. Then before we got to Sanganyi Tea Factory, the matatu we had boarded started overheating and emitting smoke from the driver’s cabin.
We were were sittef in the front seats with the Italian student. She peeped at the dashboard and was surprised that the dashboard was dead. Nothing was working. So she asked me how does the driver know at what speed was he moving. I said I do not know. He approximates.
She told me that it is illegal to drive a faulty car in the developed world. Here in Africa it is a common occurance rather than an exception.
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