Along with articles about micro pigs and pictures of Boris Johnson my parents also sent me an article on Monderman wondering if his schemes would work in Addis.
Monderman was a Dutch traffic engineer, who didn’t believe in traffic lights and would walk backwards across roads with his eyes closed to prove his theory that people don’t need rules and regulations to behave appropriately and considerately on the roads.
It is all very Dutch and liberal and sweet, but in order for it to work properly all road users need to be afforded the same respect.
This doesn’t happen in Addis or Ethiopia; the car rules.
There is a 15 year prison sentence for any driver who kills a pedestrian but you wouldn’t know it, cars don’t stop at pedestrian crossings, they rarely give way to people crossing the street at any junction.
50% of all road traffic accident deaths are people who definitely wouldn’t be able to afford their own car, and probably haven’t ever been in a private vehicle themselves. It is ridiculously unequal and unfair.
Children don’t learn the green cross code at school, and it is difficult to see them lying at right angles, with their noses touching the tarmac, to roads without speed limits that massive trucks come hurtling down.
Cars are still novel and cool, people will pull up outside cafes and order and drink coffee from their car, just because they can and because other people can’t.
So sorry Monderman I think it might take some time for Addis to be ready for you.
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