Driving in Rwanda

For my $0.02, Rwanda is the worst place for driving I've ever visited. There aren't many cars and you don't have the chaos or aggression of big cities in Brazil, Vietnam, Nigeria, etc., but the actual competency of individual drivers is very low. I think it is the combination of really bad road engineers (if any engineers exist), super simple licensing, rich (ruling party) privilege, no policing (or apathetic police), and only recently adding paved roads, turn lanes, stop lights, etc. All of the new intersections are designed in ways that make no sense at all, often with extremely wide mouths so 5 to 8 cars can try to turn simultaneously onto a one lane road, a dedicated left turn lane only 2 spots deep so cars will end up blocking the straight lanes, or even left turn arrows that are green even though the opposite side has green for going straight. I sometimes look out from my balcony and track cars that come flying around the blind corner in the middle of the road (with no chance of avoiding an oncoming vehicle) vs. those that are actually in their lanes and it is easily 9:1. My wife was hit by a truck while driving in this exact situation - somebody going fast around a blind corner in the wrong lane. Of course the truck drove off, didn't even slow down, though our vehicle was totaled. This is what you're taught here, and the drivers at my organization (the UN) and lots of friends (US embassy and others) say that is what you should do if you get in an accident because you'll often get beaten if you stick around but if you drive off there is almost no chance of getting in trouble. I also really enjoy watching cars at intersections that have a single clearly marked left turn lane. There will often be three or even 4 cars abreast making (for 3 of the cars an illegal) left turns right in front of police. I've never seen a cop stop anybody for illegal turns, running lights, pulling in front of somebody, etc. The only thing they do in the city is yell at cars or motos that stop half a meter beyond the solid line plus the regular random stops which is more a big brother is watching thing not a public safety issue (we get stopped at least 2 x per month, only rarely asked for bribes and they're generally really small like a "fanta" or "MTN" phone credit). The rich privilege is present in every aspect of Rwandan life, but most notably driving. Any wealthy individual in a luxury SUV will run motos off the road, pull out in front of others, ignore lights, etc. as a matter of principle, stop in the middle of the road to talk to friends or check their phone, etc.. RPF vehicles are the worst. The same thing happens at stores where wealthy people automatically try to cut to the front of the que. It is pretty easy to drive in Rwanda since there are few cars and the roads in Kigali or between tourist spots are good, you just always have to assume the people around you are going to do something stupid like stick their nose 1/2 into the intersection even though you have the right of way. If you're on a moto, expect people to run you off the road (I've been run off twice, once by a Rwandan UN co-worker) as if you don't exist. Watch out for pedestrians, as they're everywhere. Driving in the country is much more fun, but the roads are horrible especially when wet so make sure you have a decent 4 x 4. If you do get involved in a hit and run (where you were hit), check out the "special fund" which is insurance set up for such occurrences (mostly to pay funeral expenses of pedestrian fatalities). Took us two months and 10 days off work to file insurance claims, make police reports, get police report photocopies (first going to three other places to get an invoice and pay), get photocopies of witness testimonies (separate set of three places to go after the first), etc. Check any repairs carefully - our mechanic at Atecar poorly fixed our car but also stole our spare wheel and tire and replaced them with a trashed piece of junk hidden by the tire cover. Don't expect the police to be helpful. The emergency number often doesn't pick up and when he finally did for us once he didn't call back as promised because he didn't have phone credit. Police standing at the intersections aren't interested in helping with an accident and the one time my UN driver hit a pedestrian a few hundred meters from a police station it took over an hour for police to come and another hour before somebody offered to get the severely injured man into a taxi to go to the hospital. Have you emergency numbers handy and expect to help yourself. Again, not an especially aggressive or crowded place to drive, just a lot of bad drivers. I don't think the average Rwandan is maliciously swinging into oncoming traffic to make a turn, I just don't think most drivers know how to make a turn from their lane. The same is obviously true of parking, where most people do it very poorly (Cercle Sportif, MTN Centre, Kigali City Tower, etc. are all great examples) and require a traffic guide to stand one meter behind the cars and slowly walk them backwards as if unfamiliar with the presence of or how to use the rear window and rear-view mirrors. Try to keep a good humor!