Driving in Tripoli

It is something I have never done, and something I never want to do.  It's common to say that drivers from this country or that country are the worst in the world, but I've seen my share of bad driving, and Tripolitans take the cake.  By a mile.

Lanes have no meaning here.  Drivers race down the wrong side of the road when they feel like it.  If there's a 2-lane road in one direction, it will invariably have 4 lanes of traffic:  one in the left lane, one straddling the broken line between the two lanes, one in the right lane, and one on the shoulder.  Of course, the cars in each lane are constantly weaving left and right, so it takes some imagination to actually see the four lanes for more than an instant.

People habitually pass on the right (they drive on the right here), often from the shoulder.  They turn directly into oncoming traffic, apparently expecting the approaching cars to stop.  There's nothing remotely unusual about turning across two or three lanes of your own traffic.  I have seen cars racing down one-way streets the wrong way -- driving in reverse!

And they drive fast.  Unbelievably fast.  I was in a cab going 40 km over the speed limit, and we were passed by a steady stream of cars going so fast it felt like we were standing still.  Crossing the street as a pedestrian is terrifying:  There is no dignified way to cross the street in Tripoli.  You wait, wait, wait -- and then RUN, sprinting across a few lanes and then stopping at the median to wait to cross the next few lanes.

When encountering a car in their lane, Libyan drivers do the following:  Drive to within 5 feet or less of that car (doesn't matter if you're going 30 km/hr or 150), flash your brights repeatedly as fast as you can, and honk a bit.  If the car doesn't immediately get out of your lane, attempt to squeeze between that car and the car next to it by trying to drive between the two cars -- but continue to flash and honk.

Nobody seems to wear safety belts.  I've taken about 10 car rides since I've been here, so I decided to conduct an experiment.  I sat at a cafe one afternoon near the city center and watched cars go by on a small side street.  Out of 100 cars, 18 drivers wore safety belts and 82 did not.  Most of the drivers wearing belts were women.  Of maybe 20 taxis, only one driver was strapped in.

Perhaps this is why Libya has so many fatal accidents.  According to this article in the Tripoli Post, Libya ranked second in the Arab world for total number of road accidents in 2007, and 2,138 of them were fatal -- a large number for this country of just over 6.1 million.  (Check out the comments to that article; the general sentiment is "I'm not surprised.")

This excellent letter to the editor on the Libyan Journal of Medicine website gives a good picture of the problem.  Among its suggested causes for Libya's high road-accident rate:

• A driving licence in Libya is not issued on the basis of how much you know. Therefore the majority of drivers know little or nothing about the law.
  
  
• Wearing seat belts is not compulsory in most parts of Libya. In some places, especially in the Eastern part of Libya, you could be penalised for wearing one. I was stopped many years ago by the traffic police in the Eastern part of Libya because I was wearing sunglasses and a seatbelt. I had to apologize profusely to the young traffic policeman and explain that I was wearing sunglasses because I was driving facing the sun! The reason for wearing the seatbelt was a habit from living abroad for many years and I was not a "show off" as he put it! This incidence made me wonder how much the traffic police knew about the law?
  
  
• ... Many drivers think it is "cool" to scare pedestrians.
  
  
• Most of the road traffic accidents happen at the same areas but these are never identified as "black spots" to warn drivers of the possible dangers.
  
  
• Although Zebra Crossings exist in some parts of Libya, they actually do not serve the purpose. We just need to count how many pedestrians (especially foreign visitors) have been knocked down at Zebra Crossings.
  
  
• There is a need for new road signs, clear road markings (lanes), and new traffic lights to replace old and often non-functioning ones.
  
  
• One study demonstrated that speeding was responsible for about 70% of accidents. There are no speed cameras or road humps to slow down speeding cars, therefore residents who have lost children to road traffic accidents resort to building their own version of street humps made from old pipes, thick ropes or cement.
  
  
• Most of the main roads are full of holes and in desperate need of maintenance.
  
  
• Car seats for children are not compulsory.
  
  
• When accidents happen in Libya, what number do we dial? Do emergency services exist?

I asked a Tripolitan driver if she had any tips for me if I were ever to drive here.  She said:  "If you grow eyes in the back of your head, that would be a start."