Country roads, take me home...
I guess Venezuelan traffic can be scary. German traffic too, but in a completely different way.
German traffic is fast, silent and organized. Which can be really intimidating. I remember, when I made my German license I was terrified of the famous Autobahn.To me it seemed like a giant, well oiled, silent machine where every small mistake would have disastrous consequences. And of course my biggest worry was, to be the one making that mistake. Which luckily never happened. And even now that I am used to it, I must admit, that a road, where on one side you have senior citizens driving at about 80 km/h and on the other some stressed manager in his Porsche flying by at 210 km/h, inspires some kind of cautious awe.
I never got an Venezuelan license. Which is indeed very common amongst Venezuelans. And, yes, by this I include people who drive every day. And this is the scary thing about Venezuelan traffic. Venezuelan traffic is everything German traffic is not. It is slow, loud and chaotic. Slow in comparison, because there are people who drive quite fast, but given the state of the roads (and most cars) it impossible to reach a really high speed. There are some traffic rules, of course, but the only rule that really counts is "Try to stay alive".
On a Venezuelan road you will encounter almost everything that can move in some way. In small towns horses are a given, specially on weekends and church holidays. One reason for this is that it doesn't matter how drunk you are, in most cases your horse will take you home, even if your buddies just throw you over the saddle and start the horse (horse starting: achieved by slapping the backside (of the horse)). Naturally, being drunk is generally no reason for not driving, but still: a car will not drive itself home when you are just lying over the front seat.
A newer addition to Venezuelan traffic are motorcycles. Of course, in the past there were motorcycles, but now the quantity has risen considerably. Most of all, because cars are really, really expensive, so motorcycles are the only solution for some (specially if they do not have a horse). And now they are everywhere. Behind you, before you and on both sides passing you. Also, they transport everything...
Also you will see really cool cars. Cars in Germany most people couldn't afford to keep running, at least not for a longer period of time (gas prices in Venezuela are ridiculously low: For the price my mother fills her 95 l tank I would get about 100 ml in Germany). Or really nice old cars:
German traffic is fast, silent and organized. Which can be really intimidating. I remember, when I made my German license I was terrified of the famous Autobahn.To me it seemed like a giant, well oiled, silent machine where every small mistake would have disastrous consequences. And of course my biggest worry was, to be the one making that mistake. Which luckily never happened. And even now that I am used to it, I must admit, that a road, where on one side you have senior citizens driving at about 80 km/h and on the other some stressed manager in his Porsche flying by at 210 km/h, inspires some kind of cautious awe.
I never got an Venezuelan license. Which is indeed very common amongst Venezuelans. And, yes, by this I include people who drive every day. And this is the scary thing about Venezuelan traffic. Venezuelan traffic is everything German traffic is not. It is slow, loud and chaotic. Slow in comparison, because there are people who drive quite fast, but given the state of the roads (and most cars) it impossible to reach a really high speed. There are some traffic rules, of course, but the only rule that really counts is "Try to stay alive".
On a Venezuelan road you will encounter almost everything that can move in some way. In small towns horses are a given, specially on weekends and church holidays. One reason for this is that it doesn't matter how drunk you are, in most cases your horse will take you home, even if your buddies just throw you over the saddle and start the horse (horse starting: achieved by slapping the backside (of the horse)). Naturally, being drunk is generally no reason for not driving, but still: a car will not drive itself home when you are just lying over the front seat.
A newer addition to Venezuelan traffic are motorcycles. Of course, in the past there were motorcycles, but now the quantity has risen considerably. Most of all, because cars are really, really expensive, so motorcycles are the only solution for some (specially if they do not have a horse). And now they are everywhere. Behind you, before you and on both sides passing you. Also, they transport everything...
And everybody...
Also you will see really cool cars. Cars in Germany most people couldn't afford to keep running, at least not for a longer period of time (gas prices in Venezuela are ridiculously low: For the price my mother fills her 95 l tank I would get about 100 ml in Germany). Or really nice old cars:
Chevrolet Apache
A fairly common truck
Aaaand Optimus Prime :)
So now, to get a full picture you just have to imagine a lot of motorcycles, old cars, donkey and horses moving around, add some load cars noises, honking and a lot of really smelly emissions (any kind of emission control is like traffic rules: it might exist but is widely ignored). And that's Venezuelan traffic for you. Which, like German traffic, can be scary as shit, but only if you are not used to it.
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