Nairobi has 1 major thoroughfare running from south-east to north-west, and despite a southern bypass allowing trucks to avoid going through the city center (a northern bypass is also coming soon) the road is often a major blockage for people trying to cross that road. There are also a couple of other major thoroughfares, especially one running off the main one to the north-east which is also chock-a-block during rush hour (though empty in the opposite direction).
Traffic in Nairobi is not as bad as many other places around the world or Africa, but at rush hour it can be a problem, particularly at the 3 or 4 roundabouts close together near the town center (which is just to one side of this main thoroughfare). 2 of the roundabouts have traffic lights, but they vary between being off, flashing, or being on. It doesn't matter which state they are in because they are not followed even when the are on. During rush hour there will be traffic police on those roundabouts (and also on the ones without traffic lights) and they'll direct traffic no matter what state the traffic lights are in.
These are basically the only traffic lights in entire city (and probably the entire country actually), and they don't work. Actually there is also a set of traffic lights close to the UN which work and are followed. But when a new set of traffic lights opened a month or so ago just a few hundred meters from the set by the UN, for on the first day everyone ignored them, on the second day some people ignored them and on the third day a traffic policeman turned up to try to enforce people to use them. Even a week later often some local drivers, and especially the public transport minibuses (privately run, known as a matatu) still ignored them.
Now two weeks ago another set of traffic lights were turned on. These were on a brand new road which is also an important thoroughfare this time going from the city center to the south-east, (though it is only a dual carriageway, unlike the other one going north-east which is often three or four lanes each way). Something similar happened here: first they were ignored entirely, then semi-ignored and now, after some enforcement they are being mostly followed (at least be traffic; the pedestrians are still not really following them (it is an area with a lot of pedestrian traffic, unlike the other traffic lights).
Now two weeks later, something else has happened--as i found out when i took the shuttle bus home from work. The driver didn't go up to the traffic lights (where he'd turn left), but instead turned left down a small side road beforehand, then turned a right to come out where he wanted to go; in effect, doing the other two sides of a square compared to the two sides on the main road. And everyone else was copying him (in both directions) since it was quicker than waiting at the traffic lights. It might not have been an intended consequence, but I suppose it doesn't really too much harm--unless you live on those street that now have a lot of extra traffic on them!
We've also been doing a new traffic light project: ours are "smart" in that there are cameras monitoring the flow of traffic and adjusting the timings accordingly (rather than just operating on fixed timings).Hardly revolutionary technology compared to the developed world, but still...There are 7 sets and the first ones started being turned on last week.... Let's see how things go with these ones :)
