Trip to Senegal Part 2

Today was my first full day in Senegal. The day began with running a few errands with my soon to be father-in-law. The errands included going to the phone company, going to the post office and getting some money for me to use in Senegal. After running errands with my fiancee's father, I ran an errand with my fiancee's brother and his friend. After we were done with all the errands, I went to see my fiancee, who had gotten up earlier than me so that she could have her hair done.

One of the first things I noticed in Senegal was the traffic. My first impression was that the traffic was very chaotic and I was surprised that I didn't see any accidents. There were several reasons for this:

1) In Dakar, in addition to the right lane with cars going in one direction and the left lane with cars going in the opposite direction, there is a middle lane, in which cars can travel in either direction. When two cars in the middle lane approach each other from opposite directions, one of them goes into the other lane so that they can pass each other.

2) Lines on the road are not always used to mark where lanes are. The general rule is if there is room for a car, then it can be used as a lane. This results in drivers frequently driving less than a foot away from each other.

3) Curbs do not mark the edge of the road. Most of the time, drivers do keep their cars on the roads, but if there is a disabled car in front of them, drivers will drive over curbs in order to go around the vehicle.

4) Everywhere is a crosswalk. Pedestrians cross the road wherever they are. When waiting to cross the road, many people will stand in the road, which results in cars driving inches away from pedestrians.