Diplomatic Road Rage

To say I am still outraged by this morning’s event is an understatement! We were on Ngecha road at 0755hrs and slowed down at the junction of Pepon/ Kirawa road in order to turn left into Kirawa road. The car in front of ours, Toyota Prado 18CD 17k was also trying to make a right turn and was slightly into the road but stopped at what seemed to be a deadlock as the driver in front (a Pajero io) was trying to cross from Kirawa road into Peponi road headed towar ds westlands, and therefore blocking the Prado from moving. The driver on Kirawa road whom I recognized as a fellow parent, was already well into the road and trying to cross over, so the most obvious thing would be to let her move on, but then the Prado started inching in, as if to provoke, but alas, in the next instant the Prado moved forward and knocked her, much to our disbelief. As if that was not enough, the driver backed up and zoomed in on my friend and rammed into her front passenger’s door – AGAIN! (perhaps just in case the first time wasn’t enough of a jolt). As we watched aghast, she almost reversed into our car as she then proceeded to zoom off into ISK, where no doubt I followed her and informed the security guards and informed her that I had seen all that had happened and were calling the cops. WHAT!

I am still flabbergasted that a woman, ferrying her own children, would wage such an unnecessary assault on an innocent Mommy who also had her children in the car, one of them an infant. What the …..is wrong with that woman? Is it that because she belongs to the diplomatic corps she thinks she can be arrogant and bulldoze Kenyan raia without consequence? What kind of diplomatic immunity do these diplomats actually enjoy, and what advise are they given in case of an accident?? In fact, this was not an accident, this was not a hit and run either, it was AN ASSAULT!

Thankfully the Security team at ISK were cooperative and insinuated that the lady driving the Prado was fully aware of what she had done. While we were trying to get details of the driver and recording our complaint at the ISK Security Office, this woman’s  colleague came and sneaked her into another car, obviously since they had to pass through the same junction on their way out, and while my friend who was still waiting for help tried to waive them down, only one car stopped. The same Prado 18CD 17K,  but alas….it wasn’t the lady driver  with the car but some other man who informed us that the lady had gone to report the incident to the Diplomatic Police and apparently the lady couldn’t help as the road was slippery (no doubt from the mud slide after last night’s downpour – what hog wash!),  and said that she was feeling attacked. WHAT? WHO’S THE VICTIM HERE???  Why, pray tell, did they also have her switch cars and zoom past the scene of assault (AGAIN) , and have her colleague ‘tetea’ her, while she would simply have approached the victim and APOLOGISED; at that juncture, diplomatic fences would have been on the mend….????

My friends have since been able to make contact with the Canadian High Commission and I wait with bated breath to hear how they will attend to this matter. Meanwhile, many times people have complained about how badly cars with ‘red number plates’ are driven in this city, how they drive with a sense of entitlement and arrogance. It’s high time the citizens got to know what ‘rights’ they seem to weigh over the rest of us ‘watus’. Nkt!