Rules of the Road?

Driving in Morocco is an interesting experience, akin to playing a large game of ‘chicken’. For a start they drive on the right, and as we have an English car this can often be hair-raising for the person in the passenger seat.

The thing that’s the most difficult to come to grips with is the rule applying to roundabouts. Unlike everywhere else I’ve driven where the cars coming on to the roundabout have to wait their turn to engage with the traffic already circulating, in Morocco it’s the opposite. It’s easy to get onto a roundabout because the cars already on it have to give way to you, but it’s sometimes hard to get off again. You have to stop mid-turn to give way to the vehicles entering which results in a build up of stalled traffic half-way round the roundabout. I caused a great amount of confusion before I got used to this, sometimes forgetting where I was and automatically driving the European way.

Apart from this though, other rules of the road don’t seem to apply when you’re driving around town (as we’ve already experienced, speed limits are definitely enforced on the motorways…).

The rule is, there are no rules. Or, know the rules and then ignore them. Two lanes can suddenly accommodate four vehicles abreast of each other, especially at traffic lights, which drivers see as a chance to jostle for position.

Both overtaking and undertaking are de rigueur, which is necessary when the traffic can consist of such slow-moving obstacles as donkeys pulling carts, ‘Top Moto’ trikes with trailers and the Petit Taxis, which never seem to be in a hurry.

The Petit Taxis are also a potential hazard, as they frequently stop in the middle of the road without warning to discharge their passengers. If you don’t run into the back of them, you may lose a wing mirror when the passengers arbitrarily open a door to get out in the middle of the traffic.

Care also needs to be taken when driving on the inside of a car entering a roundabout as they often drive straight, nearly side-swiping you instead of taking the trouble to turn the steering wheel and follow the curve of the roundabout.

You also need to watch out for pedestrians who start edging their way into the road, hoping that you’ll let them cross the street, as zebra-crossings are routinely ignored by cars.

Using your horn is not just for extreme circumstances, it is regularly used to remind someone to pick a lane instead driving down the middle of the road, warn a vehicle that you’re under or over taking them so they don’t arbitrarily swerve into you without checking their mirrors (what mirrors? what indicators?) or to blast the car in front of you when they don’t move off at a green traffic light quickly enough. We have both changed the way we hold the steering wheel here, to allow our thumbs to be permanently on the horn.

Basically there is no courtesy to other drivers, and the person who gets there quickest is the one who is least afraid to get their car scratched or dented.

The upside of this is that you get to do all the things on the road that you’ve always wanted to do back home but never dared. Slow-moving vehicle sitting in the outside lane? Undertake it instead. Grandpa snoozing at the traffic lights when you’re in a hurry? Wake him up with a long toot on the horn. Bus blocking your path? Squeeze alongside it at the lights and create an extra lane.

Duck, weave, edge people out and push in. Driving here may be chaotic but it also allows us to be the really bad drivers we’ve always secretly wanted to be…