Now that I’ve been living here for a few months, I believe that I can safely make some observations that may have earlier seemed to be jumping to conclusions.
Regarding traffic and parking:
- Lanes (when visible/present) are merely suggestions.
- You can easily get a ticket for overstaying your parking spot (if you’ve managed to grab one of the two-dozen valid spots in the city), but rarely for parking on the sidewalk or in a clearly marked non-parking zone.
- Driving a taxi is reserved for people who have failed their driving test.
- Passing on the highway and playing chicken with a 16 wheeler are often the same thing.
- Shock absorbers have apparently been left out of most cars, as is evident by the way people swerve to miss even the most slight inconsistency in the roadway (most roads are poorly maintained to begin with).
- Automatic transmissions are nearly unheard of. As are turn signals.
- …Though hazard lights often mean that you may turn in either direction suddenly.
- Navigating one of the many large roundabouts (three “lanes” deep) is akin to braiding a challa once you’ve already put it in the oven.
- Downshifting to slow down behind a car that is parking or turning is considered a nuisance and should be avoided at all costs; especially when you can swerve around them and cut someone else off.
- There will always be someone at the crosswalk at the end of the roundabout waiting to jump out in front of you when you get near.