Driving in Egypt

Unfortunately it's each man for himself. No rules no etiquette and no procedures.  It's not that the system is broken - it's that there is no system. 

On the plus side one could approach it much like a video game. Embrace and enjoy.

There are rules but they are not official but rather unwritten rules known by the residents. I'd say the rules are okay once you've figured them out. As a new driver you need to be a little defensive and not get sucked into all the aggressiveness around you.

I think the main rule you need to be aware of is that the car in front has priority and cars behind are responsible for 'avoiding' collisions with anything in front of them including cars joining a road who are ahead of you have the right to cut into your path as they see fit and it is your responsibility to make sure you don't collide.

The main frustration I have driving in Egypt is the vast number of people who will endanger themselves and all around them to make the smallest most insignificant piece of progress then the same people who just overtook you fast and furious style to get one car ahead will then ardiously apply stunt man manoeuvres to make sure no one does the same to them. Like sidsid says every man for himself.

Personality rules and size matters, these words pretty much summarize how drivers think and therefore act. I feel that I am in a jungle and only the strong or more aggressive survive.

fast916 wrote:

Personality rules and size matters, these words pretty much summarize how drivers think and therefore act. I feel that I am in a jungle and only the strong or more aggressive survive.

Here here. ...

If you have a dead wish, you have to drive in Cairo....

I normally drive in London where there are more restrictions than imaginable but that does not stop everyone cutting you up, aggressive manoeuvres, road rage.
I prefer the Egyptian method : everyone for themselves but with courtesy that is not often present in London.And if you wish to overtake, one flash of the lights and the vehicle in front moves aside to let you pass.
I also like it when locals who wish to cross the three lane highways just walk out and somehow make it to the other side. In fact I successfully adopted this method too in Hurghada. I would be dead in London!

Driving in Egypt is a F.......ING nightmare most of the Egyptian are savage when it comes on driving they don't know any f....ing rules

I have to agree, driving in Egypt can be a nightmare. Especially if you are not used to it. Any rules you know is out the window and almost anything goes. Size does matter, so if a truck are coming up to you it literally does not matter whether he is in a lane that can turn or not if he wants to turn he is going to. It is up to you whether he will have a space to do so or whether he will drive over you. Lines on the road is decoration only, no one sticks to their lane and they will bump into you if you try to stay in yours. Circles is a nightmare and traffic lights are once again just for show. If you stop at a red light you might cause a serious accident. All this said, once you get use to the chaos and learn to blend in and push for a place you will be fine. Expect the worst of each and every driver and never assume that the other driver will do the right thing. At least i can say driving in Cairo made me a more vigilant driver. I still prefer driving myself rather than being in the hands of a taxi driver in traffic. Good luck and drive as safe as possible.

I like this subject too much, it made me laugh, I LOVE playing in the street with my car as it taught me everyday many new ways of self defense, such like a big jungle but really it'll make you a perfect driver because you're avoiding others' mistakes & focusing in your mission so much.

I know it's not good at all to drive without any restrictions especially in the dangerous ring road but you have to face that ugly fact & adopt with it.....DRIVE, be TOUGH & human at the same time.. respect the one who is respecting you & overtake the one who is playing in a stupid way..that's it .

Ok rule #1 there is no rules.
#2 be aware of motorcycles squeezing and weaving through traffic.
#3 be aware of big trucks specially ones with a trailer, most likely the driver is high as a kite.
#4 be aware of yielding traffic they have the right of the road (or so they think)
#5 be aware of parked cars, drivers, passengers will open the doors suddenly and with no warning.
#6 be aware of road rage. If you are involved roll up your window and slow down let them pass. If you are not involved park to the side and let them have a go at each others.
#7 be extremly aware of traffic lights stopping because its a red light can cause serious accidents because the car behind you doesnt aknowledge the light.
#8 be aware when the lights turn green. Look twice in both directions before starting to move. Drvers coming from other directions go through temproray insanity when thier light turn red and they will (each time) go for it in an attempt to pass.
#9 roll up your windown turn your music up and try to shield yourself from all the insanity.
#10 keep calm.

There are no driving schools (Maybe one in Cairo) in Egypt has such to train young people, maybe there should be a part of the school curriculum to accommodate this. There was a Riding School that tried to open in Luxor, the founder was an ex police rider, he went through the proper channels to try and register the business but could not get a license to run any further. So the training school closed after around 4 seminars. A pity really, but it seems as though no one wants to change the situation, that being the case you will have to put up with it until someone turns a light on.

It's no different to driving in any Arab country - No rules. Terrible drivers.

My suggestion to anyone who owns a car and drives in Egypt is to install steel bumpers. I had a lady who rammed my Jeep from behind, and after looking at both cars I caught myself laughing at the damage she did to her own car. Can't fix stupid, but you can sure protect yourself and your vehicle.

razaq1 wrote:

It's no different to driving in any Arab country - No rules. Terrible drivers.

Can you name the other countries too? Just curious.

India, Thailand, Malaysia and Brazil just a few.

Chocolate Eclair wrote:

India, Thailand, Malaysia and Brazil just a few.

Try drivin in jakarta. O boy.

meme1 wrote:

razaq1 wrote:

It's no different to driving in any Arab country - No rules. Terrible drivers.

Can you name the other countries too? Just curious.

Well for a start, in Iraq, some of the drivers are known to kill themselves, along with as many others as they can. That style of driving seems to be copied in Syria, Yemen, and Libya. Egypt is yet to take it up, but who is to say it won't.

fast916 wrote:

My suggestion to anyone who owns a car and drives in Egypt is to install steel bumpers. I had a lady who rammed my Jeep from behind, and after looking at both cars I caught myself laughing at the damage she did to her own car. Can't fix stupid, but you can sure protect yourself and your vehicle.

I used to have steel bumpers, i had to take them off. Its a 100 egp fine and if you go to renew your license they wont until you take'em off.

That is true if you have the stingray part on the front bumper. If you don't and have your bumpers color matched to your vehicle's color, no one will bother you. If you only have a rear steel bumper, you can definitely get away with it.

fast916 wrote:

That is true if you have the stingray part on the front bumper. If you don't and have your bumpers color matched to your vehicle's color, no one will bother you. If you only have a rear steel bumper, you can definitely get away with it.

Thanks, i will certainly take this into consideration.

RanniaMoussa, your post is really humorous summary of driving in Egypt especially. I agree that due to the lack of restrictions and rules, those who have grown up driving in Egypt are in general more skilful drivers in that they judge spaces much better than westerners as we are so used to 'keeping our distance', lol, we never break the 2 second rule.

I did think the following comment was problematic though:

"DRIVE, be TOUGH & human at the same time.. respect the one who is respecting you & overtake the one who is playing in a stupid way..that's it"

The problem with being tough and 'overtaking' the one who is playing stupid is that too many people do silly things on the road just to show they are 'tough' and then everyone ends up declaring everyone else stupid and then hey presto everyone is driving aggressively. I would adjust your advice and say; be patient, be the bigger person, ignore the crazy drivers around you and proceed in a calm and safe manner :-)

NewC wrote:

RanniaMoussa, your post is really humorous summary of driving in Egypt especially. I agree that due to the lack of restrictions and rules, those who have grown up driving in Egypt are in general more skilful drivers in that they judge spaces much better than westerners as we are so used to 'keeping our distance', lol, we never break the 2 second rule.

I did think the following comment was problematic though:

"DRIVE, be TOUGH & human at the same time.. respect the one who is respecting you & overtake the one who is playing in a stupid way..that's it"

The problem with being tough and 'overtaking' the one who is playing stupid is that too many people do silly things on the road just to show they are 'tough' and then everyone ends up declaring everyone else stupid and then hey presto everyone is driving aggressively. I would adjust your advice and say; be patient, be the bigger person, ignore the crazy drivers around you and proceed in a calm and safe manner :-)

Yeah, I'm trying to imagine, being patient while the other almost to crush hearing : "malesh".....what should I answer? " you are welcome", or to shake his hand.

lol, no, in that particular situation, you get tough 

But until that happens, hold your nerve.

In this situation I'll flip him the bird, point with my middle finger or sing him the latest cussing song in the market 

Its very interesting and funny everyone describing his/her experience regardless that most of you drive in the classiest streets in Cairo ...as there is another world in local districts where TokTok is more dominant than truck trailers.

Yet we are fortunate to drive in Cairo as we have developed awareness skills that aren't found anywhere else dealing with people crossing the high ways on foot in the middle of the dark to deadly holes in the road that can grind your rims for good even the unpredictable speed bumps that lift you airborne for a while, you can add what ever obstacle you ever faced.

You have to evade all of these while driving between stressed people that most of them don't care trading paint or even get hit, delivery bikes that racing the time as they get paid per order, Taxi/Microbus drivers that intentionally provoke others.

And as RanniaMoussa said, Be Tough & Human at the same time ... We just wait to see a smile, a wave for giving someone space.

I do have a tendency to agree with you, but the last time I rode in Cairo I found it easier to engage a taxi driver to let me follow him until I got to the road southbound, I felt safer and more in control, especially not being used to the excessive amount of traffic on the Cairo roads.

My opinion as a former traffic officer in my country, first of all, there are no traffic rules, driving is the survival of the fittest, no road signs or whatsoever, intersections which are meant to be controlled by either traffic lights, stop sign or a traffic officer are so crowded and congested, everyone wants to be the first to go, a lot of unnecessary hooting, drivers insulting each other to an extent that they'll stop and engage in physical assault. Most of the public transports like microbuses are not in a condition to transport passengers they're like moving coffins. As for the men in black and grey inform and black hats,they're only there for window dressing and accepting bribery. I travel 5dsys a week to and from work, its tragic.
The drivers of both microbuses and private vehicles have no consideration or courtesy from pedestrians. There are no speed limits, I saw many times the speed needle on the speedometer reading 160km/h and the next 2minutes he had to stop for a passenger to board applying brakes without considering or taking into account the passengers.
There are no rules,regulations or for that matter Road Traffic Act, if its there no one has time to enforce it since there are no law enforcement officers. For a driver to show intention of turning left or right they don't use direction indicators,they hoot.
Women drivers are just the same as their male counterparts.

In many occasions I witnessed hit and run, who care, its the jungle and survival of the fittest.
NO LAW AT ALL

Congratulation on your post UmmHamdy, a great post that took guts to write and of course 300% correct. I would never use service buses, too many of the driver are high on hashish, and of course their vehicles are death traps. Very well said. If a policeman tried to bribe a European they would be reporting the matter immediately.

If you have a choice, buy yourself a BIG 4x4 like a Dodge RAM, a Jeep or a Landcruiser and compare driving it to driving a regular car in Cairo. You immediately feel like a human, you command respect, other cars yield to you, and microbusses and taxi drivers will not harrass you in intersections. For me, that is a fair return for the extra gas and fees I have to pay to keep it on the road. As mentioned previously, it is a jungle out there and only the strong survive. You will sure, though, develop that sixth sense while driving that very few posses in more civilized parts of the world. Embrace the jungle and you will enjoy its rewards.

You should not need to waste your money on one of these vehicles fast, if drivers were taught properly, and stopped being idiots

I thought that driving in Cairo /Egypt is an adventure till I went to Mexico and drove for
a day in the city 

Why don't we all who care enough to discuss the topic here take a look in the mirror and start to change the world just by our own action!