Madagascar 2010: The horn is mightier than the brake...

One thing that is always fun/wet-your-pants scary in the developing world is driving. What we in the U.S. would call “laws,” people in developing countries call “suggestions”…or “pesky details.”

I’m pretty sure I was oblivious to this during my first trip to Africa…I just thought “gee, this is a fun ride!” Then, I started realizing the potential seriousness of the situation when one of my friends and I hopped into a Jeepney our first day in the Philippines a couple summers ago, had to stand/squat because it was overflowing, and were nearly flung out the back when the Jeepney peeled off like a bat out of hell. Another clue came when I noticed one of the Filipinos “Hail Mary” crossing himself as we barreled down the road during another Jeepney trip, lol.

Alas, Madagascar is no different. Seatbelts…what are those??? Motorcycle helmets…huh? In addition, it’s probably the craziest road infrastructure I’ve experienced in any of my travels. The national roads are full of massive ditches and are narrow enough to be what public safety overlords in the U.S. would deem “one-way” roads. The roads snake through the mountains (and even the flat areas…I have no idea why), so if you are predisposed to getting car sick, you are going to have a really hard time in the country. The taxi-brousses all have doggie bags available for passengers during the trips and apparently it’s very rare they go unused. This was one of the first questions I was asked when I got back to Ambositra after my initial taxi-brousse experience…”so, how many people got sick?” (By the way, the answer was only one person…although she was ralphing directly behind me…hellooooo dry heave). That question was followed by another one of my favs: “so, what animals were in the taxi brousse this time?” WTH!?! Ben and Gil told me when they took the taxi one of the passengers brought his chickens along for the ride, haha.

There are no sidewalks here either, so everyone just walks in the middle of the road. As John, the project director so aptly put: “people here are not afraid to die.” So basically, what might normally be a leisurely little drive across town is more like a game of high-stakes chicken with humans, cattle, dogs and actual chickens. Here, drivers just honk their horns when they’re driving through crowds. Or around blind corners. Or in the dark…when they don’t have their lights on for who knows what reason and no one can see them. All is fine if you just honk.

Incredibly, in all my visits to developing countries, rarely have I seen an accident….although I know serious accidents occur all the time with this type of crazy driving. However, today we had a big accident outside our project HQ here in Ambositra. I was working on a paper and I heard this loud BANG, then a lot of shouting. When one of my coworkers and I went outside, a crowd had already formed just down the street. One of the witnesses said a dude on a motorbike (no helmet, of course) came flying around a corner and slammed head on into a car coming the opposite direction. The guy flew over the hood of the car, Chuck Norris rolled off the back, then stood right up…WHAT THE!?! Are you kidding me? We later found out he only had a laceration on his foot, but he was fine, walking around, chatting with the witnesses. Unbelievable. Fortunately, the driver of the car was fine as well.

Anyway, it was quite the event this afternoon in Ambositra. The crash drew the attention of many locals in the town, children coming home from school, and most of our staff who stood out on the balconies of our offices watching the aftermath scenes unfold…but curiously, not the police. I have no idea where they were, none of us ever saw them during the entire 3 hours it took to clean up the crash and push the car to its final destination down the street. They’re probably too busy making a killing off the bribes garnered from the roadside blocks just outside of town…

Here are some photos: