A sticker won't save you
An opinion piece critiques the Kenyan government's new mandatory annual roadworthiness testing for private vehicles older than four years. The author argues that the policy is ineffective because mechanical defects are a minor cause of road accidents compared to human behavior like speeding.
Why it matters
It highlights the tension between bureaucratic regulatory measures and evidence-based public safety policies.
There is a decision I make more often than any cut in theatre. A test exists, I could order it, and the machine will find something; it almost always does. The only question that earns its place is this: if I find it, will it change what happens to the person in front of me?
Sometimes the answer is yes, and someone lives who would not have. Sometimes it is no, and the finding would frighten without helping, cost without saving. On those days, the skill is not in using the tool. It is in putting it down.
Last month, my government forgot there was a question to ask.
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