Poll of the Day > I do not understand traffic in this country/city.

(+) Yeah! (+)

For those that don't know, I'm currently in Africa right now. Specifically, Luanda, Angola.

Now, technically speaking my driver's license is valid here, but the company that sponsored me doesn't let expats drive and provides drivers for us. Thank Christ for that. I would have been in 30 accidents by now, and I've only been here a week.

The flow of traffic makes no damn sense. It just doesn't really stop. There aren't really any traffic signs, except for the streets that have them, but you ignore those signs, except for the ones you don't. Sometimes I see us sitting at a red light, other times we just completely ignore it.

Right of way also isn't a thing. At all. There are plenty of four way intersections where people just go. If you stopped and waited for "your turn", you'd just have to sit there for all eternity, as it will never stop.

Also, about 90% of the vehicles out here have dings or scratches on them as minor bumps and scrapes in vehicles are apparently just a way of life.

So that's my Africa update for the week.
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Sorry but most here will not be able to relate to those problems. Go to school for city engineering and make a billion dollars for yourself.
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OneTimeBen posted...

Sorry but most here will not be able to relate to those problems. Go to school for city engineering and make a billion dollars for yourself.

No one here has traveled anywhere? Traffic differences are some of the most common things you'll see when going to a new country.
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I've seen different styles of driving, but for the most part the basic archetypes of road laws have been in place wherever I've gone. I've got a friend who's lived in Abu Dhabi for quite a while, though, who said that right of way there is dictated by license plate number, with the Sheik having #1. Apparently traffic kind of an unintelligible jumble unless somebody with a 3-digit (or less) shows up, at which point everyone gets the **** out of their way because any sort of collision absolutely would not end in the peon's favour.
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Dynalo posted...

OneTimeBen posted...

Sorry but most here will not be able to relate to those problems. Go to school for city engineering and make a billion dollars for yourself.

No one here has traveled anywhere? Traffic differences are some of the most common things you'll see when going to a new country.

Sure but people can learn how to drive if proper rules are in place and required to learn right?
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So you are saying people just dont care about traffic laws there? Blame the police.
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Dynalo posted...

OneTimeBen posted...

Sorry but most here will not be able to relate to those problems. Go to school for city engineering and make a billion dollars for yourself.

No one here has traveled anywhere? Traffic differences are some of the most common things you'll see when going to a new country.

Africa is just like that. My friends cousins laughed the entire time I was in Freetown becuase i was just confused as fuck
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Sounds like a shithole.
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OneTimeBen posted...

So you are saying people just dont care about traffic laws there? Blame the police.

Some of it's police, but most of it is that driving has proliferated faster than traffic laws (and their enforcement) can hope to keep up with. Countries where driving's relatively new haven't had the century-long gradual implementation of cars into society that Europe and the colonies have had. They've had a large, rapid of cars and a frantic scramble to get the necessary infrastructure in place for them.
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adjl posted...

OneTimeBen posted...

So you are saying people just dont care about traffic laws there? Blame the police.

Some of it's police, but most of it is that driving has proliferated faster than traffic laws (and their enforcement) can hope to keep up with. Countries where driving's relatively new haven't had the century-long gradual implementation of cars into society that Europe and the colonies have had. They've had a large, rapid of cars and a frantic scramble to get the necessary infrastructure in place for them.

It is more about regulation than when driving became a thing. Poor planning and poor implementation. I mean its a local problem for a reason.
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Automobiles have been around long enough. Any town or city in the world should have a working system by now.
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That sounds absolutely horrible. I think I'd much rather walk than driving a car in that country : S
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LeetCheet posted...

That sounds absolutely horrible. I think I'd much rather walk than driving a car in that country : S

Prepare to be run down.
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OneTimeBen posted...

Automobiles have been around long enough. Any town or city in the world should have a working system by now.

K
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EvilMegas posted...

OneTimeBen posted...

Automobiles have been around long enough. Any town or city in the world should have a working system by now.

K

Lol. You dont agree? Somebody should figure out how to move vehicles and pedestrians? Reliably and safely? Just do whatever you want with? Not talking about dirt roads in the middle of nowhere.
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adjl posted...

I've seen different styles of driving, but for the most part the basic archetypes of road laws have been in place wherever I've gone. I've got a friend who's lived in Abu Dhabi for quite a while, though, who said that right of way there is dictated by license plate number, with the Sheik having #1. Apparently traffic kind of an unintelligible jumble unless somebody with a 3-digit (or less) shows up, at which point everyone gets the **** out of their way because any sort of collision absolutely would not end in the peon's favour.

sounds like a wonderful place...
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adjl posted...

I've seen different styles of driving, but for the most part the basic archetypes of road laws have been in place wherever I've gone. I've got a friend who's lived in Abu Dhabi for quite a while, though, who said that right of way there is dictated by license plate number, with the Sheik having #1. Apparently traffic kind of an unintelligible jumble unless somebody with a 3-digit (or less) shows up, at which point everyone gets the **** out of their way because any sort of collision absolutely would not end in the peon's favour.

That sounds both hilarious and horrifying.

LeetCheet posted...

That sounds absolutely horrible. I think I'd much rather walk than driving a car in that country : S

Good luck crossing the street. Not even joking, you just walk into traffic and assume people aren't going to hit you.

Kinda like the people who drive mopeds and motorcycles here. From my point of view, it's akin to suicide. But they weave in and out of traffic, lane split, and no one ever seems to hit them. So somehow everyone has adapted to this crazy system.

Also, I have zero intention of walking anywhere here. To quote the security office during my initiation - "You're white. People will target you as someone to rob because of it.".
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OneTimeBen posted...

Automobiles have been around long enough.

Not everywhere. Having actual driving infrastructure comes fairly late in a country's development, given how expensive cars are (especially in countries without ready access to manufacturing facilities) and the level of industrialization needed to supply them with gas.
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adjl posted...

OneTimeBen posted...

Automobiles have been around long enough.

Not everywhere. Having actual driving infrastructure comes fairly late in a country's development, given how expensive cars are (especially in countries without ready access to manufacturing facilities) and the level of industrialization needed to supply them with gas.

Yup. So cars tend to come first, and then they scramble to make roads... but they never know how to make roads, and/or they don't have the money to make them properly. You end up with horrendous broken roads that are overcrowded and full of potholes. Or, depending on the city, the roads are actually just completely unusable after a rainfall.

So you think "just fix them". But with only one road that accesses important parts of the city, you can't just shut it down, so it's in a constant state of "fix what you can", assuming they even try that hard.
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OneTimeBen posted...

EvilMegas posted...

OneTimeBen posted...

Automobiles have been around long enough. Any town or city in the world should have a working system by now.

K

Lol. You dont agree? Somebody should figure out how to move vehicles and pedestrians? Reliably and safely? Just do whatever you want with? Not talking about dirt roads in the middle of nowhere.

K
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Zangulus posted...

Reading into the reasoning behind their system makes a certain amount of sense...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luanda#Roads

Kind of.

It literally never crossed my mind to check Wikipedia about it.

That does explain the insane amount of u-turns (and one-ways) the drivers here seem to take.
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Dynalo posted...

Zangulus posted...

Reading into the reasoning behind their system makes a certain amount of sense...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luanda#Roads

Kind of.

It literally never crossed my mind to check Wikipedia about it.

That does explain the insane amount of u-turns (and one-ways) the drivers here seem to take.

Although traffic is flee flowing left turn traffic will encounter the inconvenience of additional travel distance sometimes as far as 2.5 km.

How. Hooooooow, oh my god.
I've never been happy to have Michigan roads, but here I am.