Traffic In Cairo

Those of you who have not been to Cairo are not aware of the traffic here. It is pretty scary riding in a cab, and even scarier crossing the street. There are no traffic lights, in some places there are, but they are ignored. Cars scrape each other and mark each other and no one screams or yells at anyone. It is almost normal to hit a car and keep on going, no one is going to complain. I was sitting in the back seat of my friend Atef's car, and he scraped two cars hit one car slightly and bumped his side mirror twice. No one yelled or complained, everyone went about there business as if it were normal.

Sometimes in a busy area there are traffic police and they do help out, but they are not everywhere. Just imagine New york with no traffic lights and cars doing what ever they want! Well that is what it is like here. Cars just do what ever they want when ever they want and I basically hold my breath when ever I am in a cab. I can't believe how many times this cab almost gets into accidents.

Crossing the street is another matter. The cars don't stop and people basically run into the street while cars are still going. It is really scary! I saw so many close calls. I am always affraid to cross the street here. I usually wait for someone to cross with. They just start crossing while a bunch of cars are still moving very quickly. The cars just slow down, but they do not stop.