Driving in Rio de Janeiro has always been an entertaining sport, to say the least. While I'm not a huge fan of doing it, I will when I need to.
What always makes me laugh are the lack of lanes in some parts of the city. Seriously, the paint has worn off or something and the government decided it was a waste of money to paint them again. Let's be honest, they really are only a suggestion to the Carioca driver.
They have their reasons though. First off, they have to dodge taxis and motorcycles. After that there are the people illegally stopped in the left hand lane for some reason or another. Personally, I think those people are asses but that's another story.
It's just amazing how causal they are in Rio de Janeiro about driving rules. I remember when the government paved the main road out to the international aiport Galeão and there were no lanes. It was what would be 4 lanes of highway as one big piece of concrete. And you know what, it worked out better. Traffic flowed as smooth as butter.
You really can't blame the Cariocas though. They are such mellow and flowy types of people that they just can't be made to color within the lines.
So next time you drive in Rio de Janeiro, don't think of the street madness as that. I like to think of myself as part of a school of fish, swirling and flipping around with my fellow fish friends. Yes it's super lame but it helps keep me flipping at them in another form.
Rachel,
ReplyDeleteThe explanation from my Carioca friend is that those roads with poor maintanance are "Federal" roads, so Rio state has been in opposite political parties from the federal government, so the Feds play tough and have ignored Rio's federal infra struture for the past 18 years or so.
I am not sure of the accuracy of this, but you can ask around and confirm for us :)
Ray