Party Crashers

I'm riding around town in the early morning. The sun is rising and a few people are just starting to mill about.

I approach the police station and stop at the 4 way before it. Two vans are both turning around in the intersection. They sort of face each other. They both gun it and slam head on into each other - CRASH!

Both cars then back up and rush off in different directions. This is how accidents are resolved here.

One of the crowd of loitering policeman commandeers the next vehicle to pass by and begins pursuit of the closest perpetrator. He didn't really need the ride as his perp has broken down just up the block, probably from a crushed radiator. I don't stay to see what happens.

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The roads here are very dangerous. As a person not trusted to drive (Peace Corps Rule #2322) I navigate these roads on a bicycle. There is not a day that I don't head off the road as someone comes straight at me. Since I am on the the left side of the left lane (we drive to the left here) there is no reason for anyone sober to do this.

In Va Vau one of the trainees was in several wrecks in one week. All were resolved by simply driving away. I was in one where the road had parked cars on both sides. Our van and the oncoming van both squeezed into the narrow space available. The sides of our vehicles scraped loudly as we passed. Neither stopped. Our driver simply stated that he had a cousin who could fix it. No flipping the bird. No shouting, and certainly no stopping.

Also in Va Vau I witnessed a near fatal crash on a lonely country road. Three young men had gotten totally drunk and the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel. He hit an oncoming tree. They were all ejected. This happened before noon. No one would take them to the hospital until the cops came. The locals were angry about the drunk driving and their prosecution was more important than their survival. I can't say as I blame them.