Driving in South Africa- Insane by our standards
By Lothar. Filed in South Africa |
I was very happy today when I returned our rental car at Johannesburg Airport. The car had not been stolen on my watch and we had survived the South African roads. The drivers here must have taken lessons from the Greek drivers! Here they also drive at full speed in the emergency lanes while somebody even faster passes them. The only problem is, that pedestrians and bicyclists also use the emergency lanes of the interstates, not to mention broken down trucks or minibuses, stopping for passengers to get on or off. This necessitates some interesting evasive maneuvers from all parties involved. Frequently local people walk along or cross the interstates on foot, since they have no other path or road available to them. The NY State Police would have their hands full!
The oncoming traffic uses my lane for passing, whenever they are so inclined and I am left with the emergency lane, if I am lucky!The minibuses, which are used for public transport, are real death traps.The newspaper today mentions a minibus crash with 22 people on board, about half of them killed. The buses are overloaded, have bad tires and are driven by young macho road warriors. There was a DWI spot check near Jo’burg yesterday and about 40 drivers were arrested. The newspaper states that ” the highway police ran out of officers to arrest more drivers and quit for the night.” People are being transported on bakkies ( pick-up trucks for yankees), so there is probably no seatbelt law.
Statistics state that 40 people are killed in road crashes in South Africa every day. I am glad we made it!