Driving the roads here is a fascinating, awe-inspiring experience. If I believed in evolution, experiencing the traffic flow here would be proof. It’s survival of the fittest. Let me explain. You never give way, you always take way. In Nairobi, there are round-abouts, or traffic circles, at all major intersections. They tried to control the flow of traffic with signals and the people just ignored them so most of them either are disconnected or they have traffic police who direct. There is no freeway or expressway, just roads that are wide enough for about 3 lanes of cars. I almost said 3-lanes, but there are no lanes. There is not even any paint. You just go where you can fit.
The warning sign if there is a road hazard is to place three tree limbs in the road. If the driver of the broken down vehicle does that, then he is not at fault for any accident it causes.
When you finally get out on the highway, out of town, there are no stripes, so the number of lanes of traffic just depends on how wide the road is. And once you move to pass someone, you now have taken way so the oncoming traffic has the responsibility to get out of the way, even if it means driving on the shoulder.
When we were in India, we descibed the driving as follows: Everyone was in a race for a million dollars, but no one knew where the finish line was.
ReplyDeleteWhat you described reminds me of traffic in Haiti, minus the tree limb warnings. If you happen to hit someone, you make sure they aren't dead and give them money if they are hurt.
ReplyDeleteConnor has been praying for you everyday and can't wait to see you again to hear about your trip. He has been so excited that you were able to go to Africa and talk to people there about God!
Tell Conner I am praying for him also! Most of our in-town experiences, other than Nairobi, are straight out of an Indiana Jones movie.
ReplyDeleteOne more comment on driving...today's "jam" was ridiculous. Cars side by side within inches of each other, spewing out horrific diesel fumes and inching their way into the first available space to get a little farther. I've now learned the secret...don't make eye contact with a pedestrian. If you do, he has the right of way. If you never look at him he has to give way. It's just the rule of the road. There is no organization to this chaos and somehow it works. I don't get it. Then Albert told me today that Nairobi is organized compared to Uganda. Ugggh. Oh, and when we got to where we were eating I wiped my face off and the tissue had a brown color just from road dirt and smoke. It's like Los Angeles was 30 years ago with the smog.
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