The down side of driving in Tanzania

About 11:00 Friday night, I was sitting at my desk in my room when I heard a loud scream of screeching brakes then a horrible crash. Since our wall is down outside my window, and the street is about 25-30 feet away, I was thinking a car was coming into my house! I was not far off.

I went outside and from my front yard saw the car. It was upside down sitting on the pile of rubble that was our wall. Remember that our property slopes down from the road to the back wall so the car was sitting high. Had it been just two or three feet closer to the slope, it would’ve rolled down into our compound hitting our houses.

Immediately after any car crash a huge crowd of people gather. I’m not sure where they all come from. Were they just sitting around? Walking by? There aren’t any other houses across the road. But there were about 40 men already at the upside down car.

Edwin, a Tanzanian teacher who lives on the compound, his wife and eldest son were also outside. From them I learned that apparently the woman driver had swerved to miss a bicyclist, lost control and slammed into a sign (small billboard type) on the side of the road and flipped her car (Incidentally, the car is exactly like mine: Toyota Rav4). She was unhurt inside and while the crowd of people pressed in closer, seeing as how she was physically safe, she was trying to secure some of her valuables.

As I have been told and just witnessed, in this culture, while many bystanders have come out of pure interest or to offer help, there are also many who come to see if anything can be stolen. Edwin confirmed this.

After about 15 minutes of checking to see that the bicyclist was unharmed (he or she was), the crowd decided to flip the car; I’m assuming with the woman’s permission and at her request, although Dan, Edwin’s son, said that even if she had told them not to, there was nothing she could’ve done to stop them. Edwin was concerned that once the car was flipped, there would be a free-for-all for any unsecured valuables inside and within reach. Nevertheless, the men rocked the car until they flipped it back on 4 wheels. Amazingly, the windscreen was unbroken, the frame was not bent and after unsuccessfully attempting to start the car, about 20 men helped push it to a more lighted area across the street. And by street I’m talking about a two lane ‘country road.’

There is only a half-moon tonight and no street lamps so it is very dark. I say this because while the men were pushing the car back into the street there was another loud scream of brakes as another car speeding down the road narrowly avoided hitting the crowd of people and the first car! Slow down people!! About a week ago, there was a demonstration in Kunduchi, the small town about a mile up the road. A man and children had been hit and killed by a speeding daladala (minibus). The people were protesting and demanding speed bumps be installed on that specific section of road. Again, slow down people!!

Thankfully it seems that the only damage was to property. Sometimes I just do not understand why these things are happening. This is the third or fourth accident that has happened just outside our wall – well, where our wall was. Most are at night and involve a car and a non-car (motorcyclist, bicyclist, pedestrian). Several times we have barely avoided getting hit as we make the right hand turn into our property – cars behind decide to pass on the right side even though we’re clearly slowing down to turn. (For those in America, think turning left with someone passing on the left side even though your turn signal is on.)

Although I joke about driving here as being an adventure or relate it to bumper cars at Disney (where you can do anything but ‘do not strike the car ahead of you’), it is dangerous. Roads in Tanzania are not for cars. A road is for everyone. The paved road is the path for cars, lorrys (big trucks), pedestrians including school children, daladalas which are constantly pulling off to the side and ‘merging’ back into traffic, tuk-tuks (three wheeled enclosed motorcycle type vehicles), motorcyclists, bicyclists, and often even animals. You look forwards and backwards as you do in the States but also look left and right to see who might be coming at you from the side or trying to merge onto the street or passing someone else and using your driving lane to do it.
So how do I do it? I drive much slower than I do in America. I never go on ‘auto pilot.’ I never assume I know how other drivers will react. I actually go with the assumption that they will do something I’m not prepared for. (I’m usually right about that.) I’m always looking to see where I can swerve to. I’m always ready to slam on the brakes.

And I pray, knowing “There are no ‘if’s’ in God’s world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety.”

:)