The day Kibaki government sought to ban all white cars from Kenyan roads @ma3route

In April of 2005 a controversial proposal to ban white painted cars was among a raft of new transport rules to be introduced in Parliament.

Other rules are likely to include a 10km-an-hour speed limit near all government buildings and a 70km-an-hour limit whenever it rains.

“For security reasons, we want to be able to implement a visual check on all vehicles passing key State installations,” a ministry official explained.

He added: “The mandatory increase to 70km when it rains is meant to end the big jams in the rainy season by speeding up the traffic.”

In addition, traffic experts wanted roundabouts replaced by traffic lights at all major junctions.

The ban on white painted vehicles was the most controversial of the new regulations, however. 

According to the registrar of motor vehicles, 77 per cent – more than three quarters – of all Kenyan cars are white.

However, safety specialists say white paint reflects too much light and can cause glare to oncoming drivers. Also, in the higher parts of the country – on Mount Kenya, for example – white cars become invisible against the fog and pose a major safety hazard.

This “synchronous colour effect”, as experts call it, also means that people wearing white clothes effectively disappear when in front of white cars, and risk being run over by other vehicles.

Legal experts, too, have criticised colour white on cars. When involved in a hit-and-run, the huge number of them on the road makes it difficult to identify the vehicle.

The attorney-general’s office has complained to ministry officials that colour samples taken from damaged vehicles can match more than three quarters of all the other cars in Kenya, making successful prosecutions of guilty drivers so much harder.

It is understood Transport minister Chris Murungaru insisted on a three-month grace period before the new paint ruling could be enforced.

Police would then be empowered to make roadside checks, using specially issued spectrometers, which identify the precise colour and density of paint used. They work even in the dark.

People flouting the new regulations were to be subjected to on-the-spot fines, although the precise amount of the penalties was yet to be said.

Read the original April 1st story on the Nation