Driving here in Haiti seems to be taking your life and everyone else’s in your hands…there are no lines on most of the roads—at least the ones most travelled—and therefore no lanes to stay in. Roughly I guess each direction gets half the road…unless there are lots of cars going one way and not the other…then they pretty much take over the entire road. You must drive aggressively in order to get anywhere and any hesitation is seen as weakness and will be exploited to keep you stopped so the others can go.
We were in a traffic jam and there were no cars coming in the other direction. Soon there was no room for any cars coming in the other direction as our lanes had expanded to take the entire road (even though there was a divider in the middle), squish up as far as possible and again ‘park’ until the cars up front moved (which they probably couldn’t because the cars coming toward us had nowhere to go now either).
Needless to say, I haven’t driven yet but am contemplating trying. I’ll keep you posted but I might lose my nerve to venture out behind the wheel as even as a passenger I cringe at many of the maneuvers on the roads.
Addendum: I think I really might try it. especially if I go out of Port-au-Prince and not into it…the other roads don’t seem too bad with traffic (mostly). The speed bumps here are stoppers. They aren’t the gentle humps we are used to…sharp pointy and sometimes not well marked which really makes for a wake-up call! As do some of the pot holes and or cracks in the roads that have yet to be fixed…but I am thankful for the paved roads that are here—the dirt roads are so pitted that it is similar to riding a bucking bronco (assumption).
This is Haiti's public transport called a taptap. Most are brightly painted with religious sayings on them.
No comments:
Post a Comment