Rules of the Road

a bus piled typically high and named "California Special Annointed"

During our recent road trip to Kenya I was inspired to share with you some of our road conditions out here, many of which never cease to amaze me. For instance it seems there are no firm rules of driving here, but mere flexible guidelines instead such as:

* Drive on the left side, but driving on the middle is a fine idea and driving on the right is also acceptable every now and then.
* Drive the speed limit, which may or may not be posted, but by all means exceed at any opportunity!
* Two lanes are standard, but feel free to make that into four if it suits you. Bumpy dirt shoulders are fabulous substitutes when the real lanes are in even worse condition.

Did you know Ferrari has buses? With "Allah be praised" written on them?

* Might makes right, therefore a bus speeding toward us in our lane will often force us to get off the road even though the bus has ample room on its side of the road.

* Use your right blinker to tell a vehicle behind you not to pass you because there is oncoming traffic or to indicate you will turn right. Don't turn on your lights till it is seriously dark.

A very common traffic jam

* Motorcycle riders should wear helmets, but let's face it, who can find or afford one? Most don't wear them, but we've spotted some wearing helmets backwards and at least two wearing equestrian helmets though we've never seen a horse in Tanzania!

* Look both ways before crossing the road. Really, this is the least known rule of the road, and sadly is the cause of many fatal accidents.

The road in the middle of our town on a calm day, taxi on the left, daladala in the middle named "Give me the report."

* Daladalas (public service minivans) have specific places to pull over to pick up and drop off passengers, but hey - why not stop almost in the middle of the road in town or on the highway?

* Daladalas may carry only 14 passengers, but our friends recently counted 32 people getting off of one! Hanging out of the door and windows works just fine.

The 4km road from town to our house has taken a new pock-marked face with recent rains.

Road Conditions:
* We have tons of potholes and speed bumps and even potholes IN speed bumps.
* Speed bumps on the highway are almost never marked and therefore catch us frequently by surprise while we drive at high speeds, the children are napping and our car is loaded with fragile recently purchased items.
* We share for road space with animals, bicyclists, pedestrians, motorbikes, and most frightening - unattended children.
* Recent badly-designed repairs to roads, made in concrete and rocks, were quickly washed away in fast moving rains.

Local drive-thru Walmart

* There are always so many things/people/vehicles/animals in front of and beside the car that I rarely have a moment to glance in the rear-view mirror unless I'm passing another vehicle. Using the rear-view mirror in the States felt like a luxury.

Women carrying loads of grass on their heads. Notice how closely the pedestrians are walking to where our car and the oncoming car will be. We are driving about 100km/hr.

Although I write some of this tongue-in-cheek, driving here is very difficult and confusing, and frequently dangerous, and we are therefore very thankful that the Lord has kept us safe so far. We do always appreciate your prayers for our transportation - be it on a trip or just daily driving in our own town.