[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UhmmeynxPE[/youtube]

Bike accidents are not the best to watch especially when they happen on a normal day when the owner is in the dash to make a living. It hurts a lot to know that the uplift in life from a bicycle to a bike lifestyle bears death or disability due to increased accidents. It all means you make triple or more of what you have been making when you were using a bicycle. But now, the more people own bikes the more there are confusions in the roads and the more the accidents happen.

Take for example a story appearing on the Standard newspaper in Kenya dated Thursday September 24, 2009. A pastor, was bought a bike by the church and just before entering to the church for the first time with it, it took his life in front of the worshipers. Well a mystery no one can understand, could it be the worshipers underestimated what God by buying him a bike instead of a car? well its only normal to think 70,000 Kshs. would fit to buy a junk car or a new bike anyway, just a question unanswered but the fact remains it was a bike accident. While Shadrack Kemboi recovers at Kitale District after an accident, who vows he will never ride a motorbike again. Many cases around the world everyday are witnessed of bikes taking people’s lives, so it is a world catastrophe. But what do we do?

My biggest Question!
Is the solution banning the buying of the motorbikes by those who can afford? Is it banning motorbike public transport services? or is it dealing with a long term road construction plan that reserves a pavement for the motorbikes and bicycles?

Improvement of Transport in remote areas

It is notable that most motorbike services have improved transport in most remote places especially where the roads are depleted. Back at home the public service vehicles are only three making the transport quite difficult. The sudden rise in bike buying has positively supported this area to the point where growth is remarkable.

Creation of Jobs for the Youths and Bike Sellers

The motorbikes service increase has amazingly added value in job creation in Kenya and East Africa too. In Rwanda, bikes and bicycles add up to the biggest means of transport especially considering the hilly conditions of the country. There are places in Rwanda that only bikes and bicycles can penetrate. Considering that every bike and bicycle has a driver who is actively looking for money all day long then it is a worthy course to take. At least one youth is no longer idle and that youth becomes an example to those around him changing their life styles positively. We may say that it is a copy con norm in the Kenyan business world buy I somehow see jobs created. Bike sellers for sure is recording the biggest boom in business this time round. Every youth works hard to buy a bike to enter into some business or may be take him to work. So it is all smiles for these businesses.

Yet another big Q! why are the accidents on the rise?

Just a simple thought and a straightforward answer, bikes and bicycles will never go along with cars, the two must be separated. The funny thing is, as much as bikes follow the traffic rules, they still break some by impatience and assumption that “after all mine is a small peace of moving metal, quickly I can drive past the [red stop sign]”. It might take us the next 10 years, but I suggest that expanding our roads to accommodate our aggressive youths in bicycles and bikes would be a worthy course. We will have saved uncountable life and will also give courage to the ones who owe the machines but are afraid to ride them.

Another thing, are these drivers of these little machines really experienced or passed? do they have drivers licences? As long as I know, they buy bikes, get into them, stagger a little on the road, heart themselves a bit, and “on we go! am a great driver”. The next thing you see them do is appear on the line to pick up passengers in greed for money.

Is this really the way forward? Some bike drivers even do not follow the rules of wearing a helmet and having an extra one for the passenger. It is all risk taking and this could be the highest causes of death in most accidents. What is the Kenyan government or other governments doing to make sure that they minimize bike accidents? Most of our youths own either bikes or bicycles, I believe we can not just keep quite and watch as our youths become victims of bike accidents.

There is also the rise in crime and misconduct in the roads as a result of increased bike and bicycle public services. I believe this can be minimized if there was a plan and a law in place to control their activities