Traffic in Kazakhstan

Dangerous and diabolical. Parking is wherever people stop their cars. If you have an accident (even with little or no damage), you will wait for hours to have it resolved and be able to move off.

People are often given their licence with their car ... corruption still reigns.

Traffic police will often attempt to solicit bribes for made up offences, it pays to have a mobile 'phone handy to record such attempts, almost invariably, they will back down.

Some have a massive sense of entitlement and will drive however they wish, creating lanes where either none exist or into oncoming traffic with little response or intervention from authorities (these vehicles will have certain nr plates and invariably be massive four wheel drives with drivers that often can barely see over the steering wheel and have little understanding of road rules or indeed any grasp of how to drive).

The roads are almost universally abysmal and often impassible during winter months when snow clearing does not occur in a timely manner if indeed at all.

Last winter, the centre lanes of the bridge across the Irtysh river collapsed during morning rush hour several days after traffic was diverted to lanes either side, luckily there were only minor injuries to the construction crew.