Life on the Road

The roads in Nepal are an education in themselves. The road rules are looked on as guidelines to be followed only when it is convenient and to and to be completely ignored as often as possible. It is not uncommon to see two busses or heavy trucks overtaking on a blind corner or trucks saving time by heading the wrong way down a divided expressway. Motorbikes are a constant presence, swarming through the smallest gap like bees returning to the hive. The most essential part of the vehicle is the horn with toots meaning anything from ‘I’m a big truck cutting this blind corner” to “I’m going to overtake on the inside” or “I’m going to drive on the footpath for a while because I’m in a hurry”

Add to this the fact that the roads themselves are in poor condition. In the steep hilly regions slips are almost a daily occurrence in the rainy season.  Large projects like the friendship highway between Katmandu and the Tibetan border are usually gifted by overseas governments but maintained by Nepal. Needless to say after a few years the surface is not conducive to a smooth ride. In fact we seem to average around 40km/h on the open road. Any faster than this is crazy with the roads also used by people, bicycles, ox carts, rickshaws, hand carts, goat herders, sacred cows (who often sleep in the middle of the road), large trucks, buses, tractors and all other aspects of life in the third world. The trucks and buses are usually in amazing poor condition with tires used until they explode and trucks overloaded until breaking point as a matter of course.

The road death rate is sadly approximately 30 times greater than most developed countries and accidents are common. These can cause huge snarl ups on the tight winding roads that are just a part of life here. Added to this is the fact that the overloaded trucks tend to overheat while crawling in the bumper to bumper traffic and then add their now immobile bulk to the logjam.

Nepalis take the insanity on the road with their typical good humor and grace. Despite the chaos there is little road rage as people seem to recognize that all the drivers are in the same boat and we will all get there in then end. (well most of us at least)