Traffic in Paraguay
Maybe you heard or maybe you didn't, maybe you even experienced it yourself, but the traffic in most South-American countries is really a mess. Here in Paraguay there are almost no traffic signs, I haven't seen any traffic lights and I just don't really know if there are any rules for traffic at all.
Most of the roads are not in a good condition and if it rains that condition really hits rock-bottom since there is no water drainage.
All these things together cause a lot of horrible accidents, yet it isn't really a big topic here in Paraguay. Last week there was an accident with two buses and some people died in that accident.
I can also tell about some of my own experiences in this traffic. It happened on the second day here in Paraguay. We all got up at about 5am because Ramon and I wanted to participate in a running contest in Asuncion, but I'm deviating from the topic. The thing is, while we were driving there, Ramon was in a bad mood (we were already late). He wanted to pass the car that was driving in front of us, but when he tried that the other car also accelerated. Because of that some kind of street race initiated. The funny thing was that in that street there were a lot of speed bumps, but when I say speed bump I don't mean the same speed bumps like those in Belgium. You have to reduce your speed untill you almost don't move anymore to drive over these speed bumps because they're so big. Because of that, our little street race was a bit ridiculous because everytime there was a speedbump they had to reduce their speed and after they had to accelerate like crazy again.
Another thing happened when we were just going home after going to the supermarket. We were driving on a normal two-lane street and there were two cars driving in front of us. The car right in front of us started passing the car that was in front of him. But WHILE the other car was passing the car in front of him, we were also passing him. That's like Inception-level traffic! While doing that Ramon was driving in the grass next to the road and all that with a straight face.
Most of the roads are not in a good condition and if it rains that condition really hits rock-bottom since there is no water drainage.
All these things together cause a lot of horrible accidents, yet it isn't really a big topic here in Paraguay. Last week there was an accident with two buses and some people died in that accident.
I can also tell about some of my own experiences in this traffic. It happened on the second day here in Paraguay. We all got up at about 5am because Ramon and I wanted to participate in a running contest in Asuncion, but I'm deviating from the topic. The thing is, while we were driving there, Ramon was in a bad mood (we were already late). He wanted to pass the car that was driving in front of us, but when he tried that the other car also accelerated. Because of that some kind of street race initiated. The funny thing was that in that street there were a lot of speed bumps, but when I say speed bump I don't mean the same speed bumps like those in Belgium. You have to reduce your speed untill you almost don't move anymore to drive over these speed bumps because they're so big. Because of that, our little street race was a bit ridiculous because everytime there was a speedbump they had to reduce their speed and after they had to accelerate like crazy again.
Another thing happened when we were just going home after going to the supermarket. We were driving on a normal two-lane street and there were two cars driving in front of us. The car right in front of us started passing the car that was in front of him. But WHILE the other car was passing the car in front of him, we were also passing him. That's like Inception-level traffic! While doing that Ramon was driving in the grass next to the road and all that with a straight face.
There are no traffic rules in South America :-)
BeantwoordenVerwijderenThe only restrictions on how fast to drive are your own mental and/or physical state, the condition of your car and the amount of holes in the road.
Enjoy!