The Accident

Earlier in the NomadTravels blog I mentioned hearing rumors that driving in Kenya made South Africa seem like a piece of cake.  I can now verify the rumors.  Complete insanity would be a decent attempt at a description.  Last night “The Diplomat” and I were at the Kenya airport trying to get out of the parking lot, which was just a complete fiasco.  It was a tiny lot yet it took over an hour to get out due to there being only one, extremely inefficient, exit gate.  During the process of everyone trying to force their way one car ahead, two cars collided or should I say bumped or perhaps I should say I’m not sure.  However the fiasco evolved into a giant yelling match between the occupants of three different cars, which then lead to the fun of every one else getting out of their cars and joining the fray, while 30 or so cars were stuck behind this “accident” waiting to exit.  It took the police finally breaking things up to got out of the lot.

However, this was not the accident the title refers to.  Last Thursday, my second day in Nairobi, Tulipgirl, the boys and I decided to head out to the Karen neighborhood to see the Ngong hills and the Karen Blixen home.  Just after we headed out I mentioned that it looked like the right hand turn signal was not working, indicated by the rapid blinking of the dashboard light when activated.  So we decided to take a look at it when we stopped.  Just after this, 7.4K from the house we made a right hand turn (equivalent of a left hand turn in the US, I.E. crossing oncoming traffic, Kenya drives on the wrong side) onto another major road when someone raced up from behind, passed us on the right and slammed into our front bumper.  We were all rather shocked; imagine someone passing you on the left (in the US) as you turned left at a major intersection, especially when there was more than adequate room to easily pass using the passing lane on the right.

Evidently our indicator light had burnt out.  However I assumed that the other driver would be found at fault as clearing passing on the right through and intersection is exceedingly stupid.  One thing I have learned in life is that assumptions usually precede famous last words.  In this case I was wrong according to the Kenyan police.  Supposedly it’s perfectly legal to pass on the right (remember this is the oncoming traffic side) through a major intersection if the other party does not have their indicator on.  Sigh, banana republic style rules of the road nail me again.  Fortunately no one was hurt and that side of the car already had damage from the gardeners failed attempt at learning to drive.  So after about two hours of back and forth with the police, embassy security (who was on our side…somewhat) and the driver we got everything settled and on our way.

The Damage

So it was another “trip in vain” day and while I’m glad that no one got hurt, I’m shocked at another dangerously stupid driving rule in Africa.  Guess I should stop being surprised. Now when I turn right, I’m inclined to put the turn signal on and stick my hand out the window.

- AGS