Driving In Rwanda

Here are some thoughts about driving in Rwanda.
Right side steering wheels make it difficult to see around trucks as you try to pass vehicles on winding mountainous roads. The government is making it illegal to sell right steering wheel vehicles. We drive on the right side of the road so it makes sense to have left handed steering wheels.

There are more motorcycles registered in Rwanda than four wheeled vehicles. Dodging "motos" (motorcycles) is a skill. Many of the motos are under powered and driven poorly. Directional signals are used for everything except turning. The vehicle before you will signal to you if it is "ok" to pass. Trouble happens when a. they tell you wrong or b. they want to turn left in front of you and you assume they are signaling for something else. Almost all vehicles are under powered going through the mountains so be ready to crawl behind slow moving trucks until you finally find a straight away to pass. Police are positioned at various spots throughout the country. They will stop you if they think they can find a violation. Mostly trucks and public transport (buses and vans) are stopped. "Coaster" Toyota buses are mid size vehicles that don't make as many stops as the smaller 18 passenger vans. On Coasters you get your own seat. On vans they cram as many people as possible into a 15 passenger van! They cost the same amount of money. Vans stop many times. Coasters are express. If you are lucky you live where the bus starts or you are stuck to ride the vans. It costs 90 Rwandan Francs to ride from Gitarama to Kigali (1 hour) which is around $1.80. Motorcycles are the biggest hazard on the road, vans and small buses are next. Then there are the huge coaches that travel between countries. There is a huge (it looks even larger on the small windy roads of Rwanda) red bus that travels from Burundi to...I don't really know where it stops...maybe Uganda. It looks very tippy as it winds up down the roads.

While there are lane markers to let you know if you are in the right or left lane, it seems that a lot of drivers just wander all over the road never picking a lane. Horn honking is constant. While at first I thought it was just a courtesy honk, I now think that it is a passive aggressive way of saying "I am ticked at your driving!" Honking your horn not only tells the vehicles around you that you are coming it also tells everyone that they are idiots and that no one really knows how to drive! lol Roundabouts are wonderful inventions...or at least they look good. The problem is when hardly anyone knows how to drive on them. Aggressive driving is the only way to survive. Grab a line and go for it. If you are exiting in the next turn you are to signal and proceed to the outside lane.

Toyota has a corner on the market. It would appear that 90% of all vehicles are Toyota brand. I don't know how they got such a hold in Rwanda but Toyota is the "ticket". Models are a little different than in the U.S. The 4Runner is a "Surf". Land Cruisers are similar but there is also a Prado Land Cruiser. Corollas are similar. Rav 4s are very popular and look like their U.S. counterparts. Mercedes makes a model that is only $12,000 and it appears that Benz's are as "elite".