Driving in Botswana, on the other side of the road

In Botswana and South Africa, as in most places Commonwealth countries, cars keep to the left-hand side of the road. Many of my friends have asked whether I found it difficult to drive on the left after a lifetime of right-hand traffic. The answer is that at first it can be a bit daunting and one can find oneself driving up the wrong side of the road! But having previously driven in Australia and New Zealand, I didn’t find it particularly difficult to get it right (I mean left) upon my arrival here. 

Rishi and I have two vehicles, a white Ford Mondeo for city driving and a Mitsubishi Pajero 4x4, basically a truck. I’m aghast that we own such a fuel-inefficient vehicle, but it’s great for travelling over the corrugated, badly rutted roads we’ve encountered on some of our visits to safari camps. 

After a few months here, I returned to the U.S. for five weeks at the end of last year and I will be returning there again in March. This switching between left-hand and right-hand traffic every few months just requires a bit more concentration and taking care to look in both directions, probably a good idea in any case.

What happened to my steering wheel?

The biggest issue for me now is a lingering tendency to open the wrong door, at which point I briefly wonder where the steering wheel has gone. Another problem is turning on the windshield wipers when I mean to signal a turn. The driver behind me is probably cursing the lousy driver who isn’t using her directionals. This confusion is compounded by the Ford having the wipers and signals in the positions you would find in a U.S. car.

Most streets are unsigned, but fortunately that's
not the case at this well-marked intersection.

As for the general driving experience, traffic in Botswana is mostly orderly, but drivers tend to have some bad habits, many of which I see in the U.S. as well, though they seem more prevalent here. For example, drivers will pass at high speed and cut you off, only to brake hard and wait at the upcoming red light as you catch right up with them. When a traffic light turns red it evidently means, “only two more cars can go through, or maybe three if you hurry.” If I stopped on a yellow light, I'm certain I would be rear-ended. 

Rush hour traffic in Gaborone. 

Taxi drivers act like they always have the right of way. They routinely run stop signs and red lights. The prudent driver is advised to always yield to a taxi. 

One expat posted on Facebook that the traffic lights here are very badly timed. I beg to differ; they are not timed at all! As if in recognition of this fact, traffic officers are posted at the major intersections during rush hour and do their best to keep things moving.

People sometimes refer to traffic lights as robots, a common South African parlance. If the robots at an intersection are out of service, a fairly frequent occurrence, they don't fail to flashing red, but instead go completely dark. In this case, the intersection should be treated as a 4-way stop, assuming that drivers realize/notice the signal is dark, which can be tricky especially at night. Despite these problems, fender benders are surprisingly rare.

The main roads are quite good, but the side streets are usually a mess, with giant car-swallowing pot holes. Speed bumps – we got ‘em everywhere. For the Ford, these obstacles are serious business, but the Mitsubishi rolls right over this stuff, no problem. 

Speeds are controlled on the side roads by a combination of enormous potholes and speed bumps.

No discussion of traffic here would be complete without mentioning the cattle that roam about. One doesn’t see them very often in the center of town, but on side streets or toward the outskirts of the city, we see cows, donkeys, goats, and the occasional horse. 

Cattle were regular passersby on the road where we lived for our first three months, as seen in this picture from our balcony. 

Usually animals stay to the side of the road, but not always. If the car in front of you has its flashers on, that generally means "livestock ahead."

Some of these cows are bigger than the cars!