Missive from the Congo 015

Originally posted on Tue, 20 Mar 2007 20:39:58 +0200

Traffic police in Kisangani

A number of you have remarked on the fact that I haven’t send out a missive since the 12th of February. You have uniformly been generous in suggesting that it is no doubt because of the workload and other such factors. Well, the truth is I have gotten lazy… and I sort of ran out of ideas to write about. However, I’m all better now. So today I will write about traffic control measures. Doesn’t sound like much of a subject until you’re in a place where the rules a very different.

First of all, in Kisangani, there are no traffic lights. Well, that’s not quite true. There are a few but they all look like the one in the attached picture. I can’t imagine that they have worked in the last ten years at least. So it’s “who dares, wins” when you get to an intersection. Might, or size, also makes right. Since there is much more bicycle traffic than anything else, and I drive a big SUV, I usually don’t have to yield much. There is progress though on this front. I was in Kinshasa a few weeks ago and they had one traffic light working.

One of the few traffic lights
in Kisangani. Obviously
it's not working

Another important difference from North American standards is when the right of way is in doubt, the Congolese will flash their lights. This is not an indication that you can go. In fact it is the reverse. If you intend to take the right of way you either honk your horn or flash your lights. Either way it means get out of my way.

Now the city is not completely without traffic control measures. At the exit to the UN installations, there are little huts within which sit local policemen. They will signal you whether or not it is safe to exit. They have green “pass” signs and red “stop” signs. Little human traffic lights. There is also a traffic police booth on the main intersection in town. If the police officer is placed sideways to you, you can go. If he is facing you (or has his back to you), you have to wait.

The traffic police at the exit to the HQ

Then there are the traffic circles. There are quite a few of them and they operate on the French principle instead of the English. That is to say that traffic entering the circle has priority over the traffic already in the circle. It’s a recipe for disaster if you ask me, or at least traffic headaches, since any amount of traffic can enter the traffic circle but you can’t leave it as easily. It’s not too bad in Kisangani as we don’t have that much traffic but you do have to be aware that the car approaching on the right won’t stop for you.

In any event, that is it for today. I have four more missives to write after this one. D-38 and counting.

John