Closer to home - Road crash kills 19 in Egypt's Luxor

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Dusak
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Re: Closer to home - Road crash kills 19 in Egypt's Luxor

Post by Dusak »

The way most drive here is far beyond understanding. Every Thursday going out my driver is always attempting to get the lead position. I ask him why bother as he is making no head way as every one else is attempting to do the same. I think he is quite serious when he replies 'to stop the others slowing down the traffic.'
Stewarth99 wrote:
carrie wrote:If the driving test here was toughened up and drivers had to have lessons first do you think it would improve the driving of Egyptians. It has always amazed me that they can be the most patient of people until they get behind the wheel of a car/mini bus. The road ahead is obviously blocked but still they hoot their horns try to squeeze into any available tiny space and cause more havoc.

I remember when there where convoys to practically anywhere, police led and everyone followed, or so you would think, constant overtaking, driving on the wrong side of the road. No one was going to get there any faster because you were not allowed to over take the police but everyone wanted to be the one following the police therefore in the lead.
I don't know if Robbo is right in saying that is was a wedding convoy that was involved in the crash, wouldn't surprise me in the least, some of the most stupid and thoughtless driving I have ever seen.
I hope those that are injured recover quickly and fully and hopefully hopefully a lesson will have been learnt.
I have a theory about why some people drive so badly.
Typically, some boys/girls start by learning to ride a bicycle, then a motorbike and if they live that long, by driving a car.
In their heads they are still driving that bicycle. That's why they can ignore traffic signs, one-way streets, lane discipline and practically anything that would save their lives, because that's what they got away with on a bicycle!
They are still on that bloody bicycle. But the new one weighs a tonne or more!
Although I see your point, my own personal observations of bicycle users over here, they are possibly the safest users of the road. They hug the curb, do not chance entering the stream of traffic and usually dismount if the need to cross over or make a turn.

I do not think that Allah enters the equation of their hit and miss driving prowess, they are ruled be their blind stupidity and recklessness. And let us not forget the single pedestrian, a highly dangerous one direction only road user.

Last night I saw several young ladies in the middle of the road at the point they are constructing the new edifice of wastage in the center of the road in an attempt to control the flow of traffic, which is a bit of a joke as the traffic has now started to come around in the wrong direction. One girl seemed to be in charge of the brood. She suddenly made a turn, they all followed by making the same tight turns and swings to the right and left as she did. A typical 'flocking' of Egyptian ducks.


Life is your's to do with as you wish- do not let other's try to control it for you. Count Dusak- 1345.
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Re: Closer to home - Road crash kills 19 in Egypt's Luxor

Post by Mad Dilys »

As a car driver I think the pedestrian hazard is underrated.

There seems to be an invisible contagion in Luxor. It affects tourists soon after arrival along with residents.

It is the complete lack of awareness of the lethal power of a vehicle. I have even seen experienced tour bus drivers wander into moving traffic while they struggle to open a packet of Cleopatras. It's as if no pedestrian has ever experienced traffic before. The sound of a warning horn startles them and they either stand bemused or quickly return to their private world.

For the first few days tourists retain something like caution based on general fear of their surroundings - they have a habit of clustering on the kerb when they want to cross the road and waiting for to long before scampering into the oncoming traffic.

A word here about minibus drivers. A friend of mine from Cairo has a theory that they are aliens.

There is another world where there is no actual traffic but the male population spends it's time playing competitive virtual reality games of driving a minibus. So when all the stages of the game have been achieved they are teleported directly into the seat of a Luxor minibus but they don't know that it's not still the game ..........................
Smile! It confuses people
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