More on Cape Town drivers.

Today, on my way to work, I was in a line of cars approaching an intersection.  There was a filter light to let cars turn right, and the light turned orange to indicate the end of that part of the cycle.

In Cape Town, that means that it's time to accelerate, and get your hand ready on your hooter (US: horn) to give the car in front of you a good blast if they dare stop.  Often 3-4 cars can still enter the intersection once the traffic lights have turned red, because the cars from the other direction haven't started moving yet.

This car, CY 74718, a maroon Audi A4, is one of those:

The photo is unfortunately somewhat poor, as it was taken with a cell phone, and facing into the sun.

The traffic light (filter arrow) for the turning lane (turning from the road we were in into the perpendicular road) turned yellow, then off.  Then the car approaching stopped.  The lights were now red, and in the rest of the world, that means stop.  In Cape Town tradition, however, the car behind [CY 74718] wanted to still make it through the intersection before the other cars began to move into the intersection.  The driver was angry that the car in front had stopped, and used hand signals to insult the driver in front of her who had stopped for the traffic light.

This intersection is a particularly bad one, and often cars still enter the intersection after the lights have turned green for the cars in the other direction.

Cape Town drivers are known for bad driving.  They drive slower than Gauteng drivers, but are far more incompetent, which probably accounts for the slower speed.  This may be due to the lazy atmosphere created by living at the seaside - it takes far longer for Cape Town drivers to recognise a red traffic light and to come to a stop - when the lights turn green, cars usually have to wait till the intersection clears, and quite often have to wait until cars stop entering the intersection.  And which lane one is in is not really relevant - if you want to be in another lane, just move across - the other cars have to brake, because Cape Town Drivers have right of way.  This is especially true in turning lanes, where they don't seem to care who has right of way in which lane - they just turn from whichever lane they please into whichever lane they please.

So far, the only reason H5N1 avian influenza hasn't killed people in Cape Town is because it hasn't yet reached here.  If and when a pandemic occurs, and if and when it reaches Cape Town, one has to wonder

Today, going home from work, the traffic lights turned green, but we had to wait for a further 5 cars that continued to enter the intersection.  No reason to stop at a red traffic light if those who have right of way are still stationary, is there?  In Cape Town, the answer is a loud "No!"

This is the 5th of those cars - I ended up behind her, and while standing still, I got a photo with my cell phone camera.  Somewhat unclear, but cell phone cameras are not always ideal for detail.  The licence number: CFR 54571.

Arrive Alive has a place to report bad driving online.