ICT Value to the Counties
Hi, I was hoping that now that we have a new dispensation that traffic flow on Uhuru Highway will have been handed back to the traffic lights unfortunately this is not the case and the police keep competing with the traffic lights. Can we take this up as the first campaign by KICTANET to show that we are truly committed to seeing technology applied to improving the lives of Kenyans beginning with the long suffering drivers in the County of Nairobi? Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
Hi Bobby, I believe (not think!) that the traffic snarls in Nairobi CANNOT be solved with technology (where technology == ICTs) - I mean, not the traffic. Never. Why am I saying so? The problem is that of poor planning and only re-planning with forecast can help solve it. Just using some computers will not. Will never as it is right now. I am not saying "impossible", but looking at the cost, it will end up not making economic sense. My way of looking at it is that we'll have to have a means to predict the traffic volumes expected at those rights and use those parameters to re-program the lights controllers on the fly. I recently had a long argument with a senior officer involved in Traffic Control in Nairobi and we kinda unanimously agreed that the issue will have to be addressed by the city planners in consultation with the Police - and both teams barely know how to use computers or wouldn't want to use them - for same reasons I suspect some organization let their fail - fear of audit. On 2 April 2013 09:09, robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
Hi,
I was hoping that now that we have a new dispensation that traffic flow on Uhuru Highway will have been handed back to the traffic lights unfortunately this is not the case and the police keep competing with the traffic lights.
Can we take this up as the first campaign by KICTANET to show that we are truly committed to seeing technology applied to improving the lives of Kenyans beginning with the long suffering drivers in the County of Nairobi?
Regards
Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
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The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
-- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 "I can't hear you -- I'm using the scrambler."
Washington, You have just answered your own question while at the same time agreeing with me that the solution can be provided by technology. The traffic lights along Kenyatta Avenues work brilliantly until the police show up and confuse the entire smooth flow as they try to second guess the lights. The lighting system installed in Nairobi is more advanced than many of us think especially those recent immigrants to the city who have no recollection of efficiently working system. What you have indicated is that we need a good program developed and building in a feedback mechanism integrated to handle exceptions, this such a basic application that can be developed by anyone with a little development language. The County of Nairobi has an entire department responsible for monitoring, analysing and implementing traffic flow solutions, many of the staff have post graduate degrees in their fields. I once had the privilege of driving together with one of the staff in the department past the City Mortuary round about and I made a the "expert" statement that "only a fly over could solve the snarl-ups". He literally laughed in my face and told me to stop regagiated a former minister of roads statements, the solution he told me was to make the particular round about smaller, a proposal that had been presented to the ministry, being responsible for the particular road as it is a trunk, who dismissed it as too pedestrian to work. A few years later the proposal was actually implemented and the snarl-up cleared, the same was done to the Langata Road/Mbagathi Road roundabout but was not extended to the Argwins Kodhek roundabout which would have been required to provide a complete solution. So Washington, the police officer who was telling you that the lights cannot solve the traffic problem on Mombasa Road/Uhuru Highway/Waiyaki way main city artery was as knowledgeable in traffic flow as I am in thrombosis analysis. The reason that both sets of lights at the Nyayo Stadium do not work is because the hawkers have been providing incentives to those responsible for maintaining the status quo, it has nothing to do with the lack of complex algorithms in the traffic lights system. If Dr. Kidero (MBA) is truly digital one of his deliverable for the first 100 days in office should be to get the lights switched back on along the entire length of Nairobi's main artery while at it he should clean all the pedestrian bridges and send those police officers back to the station for redeployment and replace them with speed cameras and the highly effective kanjo askaris to deal with the basic issue of drivers and pedestrians not adhering to the traffic lights. With the current fine of 10,000/- for not stopping at a red light for drivers and 2,000/- for pedestrians he will be able to cover his payroll for April, May and June after which we shall either be too broke to drive into the CBD or have learned to respect them, either of which is a desirable outcome. So, can we now agree that we have a role to play in making Nairobi a better county to live in or will we continue to be spectators in our own industry? Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 ________________________________ From: Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo@gmail.com> To: robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Tuesday, 2 April 2013, 10:06 Subject: Re: [kictanet] ICT Value to the Counties Hi Bobby, I believe (not think!) that the traffic snarls in Nairobi CANNOT be solved with technology (where technology == ICTs) - I mean, not the traffic. Never. Why am I saying so? The problem is that of poor planning and only re-planning with forecast can help solve it. Just using some computers will not. Will never as it is right now. I am not saying "impossible", but looking at the cost, it will end up not making economic sense. My way of looking at it is that we'll have to have a means to predict the traffic volumes expected at those rights and use those parameters to re-program the lights controllers on the fly. I recently had a long argument with a senior officer involved in Traffic Control in Nairobi and we kinda unanimously agreed that the issue will have to be addressed by the city planners in consultation with the Police - and both teams barely know how to use computers or wouldn't want to use them - for same reasons I suspect some organization let their fail - fear of audit. On 2 April 2013 09:09, robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk> wrote: Hi,
I was hoping that now that we have a new dispensation that traffic flow on Uhuru Highway will have been handed back to the traffic lights unfortunately this is not the case and the police keep competing with the traffic lights.
Can we take this up as the first campaign by KICTANET to show that we are truly committed to seeing technology applied to improving the lives of Kenyans beginning with the long suffering drivers in the County of Nairobi?
Regards
Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
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The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
-- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 "I can't hear you -- I'm using the scrambler." _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/robertyawe%40yahoo.co.... The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
Interesting! The counties have to come up with, among other things, policy for citizen participation. I hope they employ ICT/ Internet. Looking forward to counties with interactive leadership, counties publishing their list of assets and liabilities at almost no cost on the Internet, counties using ICT to improve markets for their local products....and yes, to less congestion in NCC! 2013/4/2 robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk>
Hi,
I was hoping that now that we have a new dispensation that traffic flow on Uhuru Highway will have been handed back to the traffic lights unfortunately this is not the case and the police keep competing with the traffic lights.
Can we take this up as the first campaign by KICTANET to show that we are truly committed to seeing technology applied to improving the lives of Kenyans beginning with the long suffering drivers in the County of Nairobi?
Regards
Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
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The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
-- Grace L.N. Mutung'u (Bomu) Kenya Skype: gracebomu Twitter: @Bomu Website: http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org/profile/GraceMutungu
I once watched the following: Traffic was flowing around the GPO Round About. Two traffic cops had in two vehicles came by, and each stopped the lanes to cut across the roundabout, in disregard of the lights. They then immediately left, leaving a semi grid-lock on the same. Meanwhile, traffic lights suffer from a problem cops like ignoring. There's much more traffic coming from Mombasa Road, Langata Road, Bunyala Road (South B) than from Ngong Road into town in the mornings. Traffic lights and cop ignore this situation, and treat all junctions with equal priority, or favor out of town traffic in the morning. This will see traffic on Mombasa Road starting at Haile Selassie - Uhuru Highway roundabout all the way to Parkside Towers (Airtel). Traffic on Ngong Toad will meanwhile be up to the Railways headquarters. Also, there's the issue where a series of lights in a series of roundabouts will not be in sync. So you basically move in bits down Kenyatta Avenue from one junction to the next. The lights should operate such that all lights down the street turn green - allowing express movement up/down or across the street. Remember, traffic is caused when more vehicles get to a certain point than are leaving the same point per unit time. On 2 April 2013 11:42, Grace Mutung'u (Bomu) <nmutungu@gmail.com> wrote:
Interesting! The counties have to come up with, among other things, policy for citizen participation. I hope they employ ICT/ Internet. Looking forward to counties with interactive leadership, counties publishing their list of assets and liabilities at almost no cost on the Internet, counties using ICT to improve markets for their local products....and yes, to less congestion in NCC!
2013/4/2 robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk>
Hi,
I was hoping that now that we have a new dispensation that traffic flow on Uhuru Highway will have been handed back to the traffic lights unfortunately this is not the case and the police keep competing with the traffic lights.
Can we take this up as the first campaign by KICTANET to show that we are truly committed to seeing technology applied to improving the lives of Kenyans beginning with the long suffering drivers in the County of Nairobi?
Regards
Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/nmutungu%40gmail.com
The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
-- Grace L.N. Mutung'u (Bomu) Kenya Skype: gracebomu Twitter: @Bomu Website: http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org/profile/GraceMutungu
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
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The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
-- with Regards: blog.denniskioko.com <http://www.denniskioko.com/>
Hi Dennis, I object to the insinuation that the traffic lights are just like the cops and as the official representative of the voiceless traffic lights I insist that you retract that statement otherwise we shall have no alternative but to go to the supreme court to have you censored. The traffic lights actually take the traffic flow differences into consideration and change accordingly based on the time of day and day of the week which is why when it gets to 9 o'clock they switch to flashing amber, at least the ones near NSSF Towers do. The lights follow the program provided to them unfortunately the cops have not been issued with one and instead wait for Maina Kageni seated in the studio miles away from the problem to call their boss on his Hot line who then uses that as a presidential directive and sends down the same to the cops on the ground. Transcript: Driver Matatu 23: Kageni hi jam hapa museum hill ni noma haijasonga for almost 1 hour Maina Kageni: Let me call the traffic commandant on his mobile and ask him to do something, keep listening to ******** FM Traffic Commandant: Wewe Wagombe fungulia hizi kari za kutoka Kangemi wame pikia Maina Kageni na sitaki PRO akinipigia makelele Wagombe: Dio afande wacha ni wa fungulie, tafadhali pigia Wafula pale University Way na Wasipukulu Kenyatta Avenue pia wafungiulie kwa, sina credit na sijalipa Okoa Jahazi ya jana What is so peculiar about Kenya that we cannot install and config traffic lights yet we claim to be the worlds technology solution destination? Regards PS. Just for your information, we did a project on traffic lights for the science congress in 1986 when I was in high school. Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 ________________________________ From: Dennis Kioko <dmbuvi@gmail.com> To: robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Tuesday, 2 April 2013, 15:37 Subject: Re: [kictanet] ICT Value to the Counties I once watched the following: Traffic was flowing around the GPO Round About. Two traffic cops had in two vehicles came by, and each stopped the lanes to cut across the roundabout, in disregard of the lights. They then immediately left, leaving a semi grid-lock on the same. Meanwhile, traffic lights suffer from a problem cops like ignoring. There's much more traffic coming from Mombasa Road, Langata Road, Bunyala Road (South B) than from Ngong Road into town in the mornings. Traffic lights and cop ignore this situation, and treat all junctions with equal priority, or favor out of town traffic in the morning. This will see traffic on Mombasa Road starting at Haile Selassie - Uhuru Highway roundabout all the way to Parkside Towers (Airtel). Traffic on Ngong Toad will meanwhile be up to the Railways headquarters. Also, there's the issue where a series of lights in a series of roundabouts will not be in sync. So you basically move in bits down Kenyatta Avenue from one junction to the next. The lights should operate such that all lights down the street turn green - allowing express movement up/down or across the street. Remember, traffic is caused when more vehicles get to a certain point than are leaving the same point per unit time. On 2 April 2013 11:42, Grace Mutung'u (Bomu) <nmutungu@gmail.com> wrote: Interesting! The counties have to come up with, among other things, policy for citizen participation. I hope they employ ICT/ Internet.
Looking forward to counties with interactive leadership, counties publishing their list of assets and liabilities at almost no cost on the Internet, counties using ICT to improve markets for their local products....and yes, to less congestion in NCC!
2013/4/2 robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk>
Hi,
I was hoping that now that we have a new dispensation that traffic flow on Uhuru Highway will have been handed back to the traffic lights unfortunately this is not the case and the police keep competing with the traffic lights.
Can we take this up as the first campaign by KICTANET to show that we are truly committed to seeing technology applied to improving the lives of Kenyans beginning with the long suffering drivers in the County of Nairobi?
Regards
Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
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The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
-- Grace L.N. Mutung'u (Bomu) Kenya Skype: gracebomu Twitter: @Bomu
Website: http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org/profile/GraceMutungu _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
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The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
-- with Regards: blog.denniskioko.com _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/robertyawe%40yahoo.co.... The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
What about the ones along Kenyatta Avenue - our traffic problems will need someone to own them in the Ministry of Transport and in the Ministry of Roads.
Dennis, They all work including the ones at the Kenyatta Avenue & Tom Mboya Street Junction the problem is the drivers and every so often the kanjo boys come along and make a killing Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 ________________________________ From: Dennis Kioko <dmbuvi@gmail.com> To: robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Wednesday, 3 April 2013, 15:06 Subject: Re: [kictanet] ICT Value to the Counties What about the ones along Kenyatta Avenue - our traffic problems will need someone to own them in the Ministry of Transport and in the Ministry of Roads.
participants (4)
-
Dennis Kioko -
Grace Mutung'u (Bomu) -
Odhiambo Washington -
robert yawe