In rural areas bridges may be modern, with tarmac surfaces and safety railings, but more often a basic wooden structure designed to accommodate local traffic will be found. This bridge, not far from Mount Elgon, was built with Toyota vans and land rovers in mind. The two planks stretching across it are spaced for those vehicles, so anything else is likely to miss the planks and have a bumpy crossing.

Although they may be a basic design, they are usually strong and easily repaired; they do the job for which they are intended. If you encounter bridges that don't look safe, there are two main things to do. Firstly look for tyre tracks -has anything used the bridge recently, and how often? Secondly, stop, get out and walk the bridge. Look for signs of rot, holes and evidence that other vehicles have all stuck to, or avoided, certain parts of the bridge.

If you need to remain on particular parts, or avoid others, and you can't easily see your wheels,consider having a passenger walk over in front of your vehicle, feeding back information about where your wheels are and what you need to do next.