Car Accidents

Yes, with traffic rules that are gray and taxis weaving all over the road, the occasional bump 'em up is inevitable. I have been driving for maybe 1 month now and I have been bear witness to at least 6 car accidents.

I have either seen the accidents as they occur or have arrived shortly afterward. The following are a list of accidents in no particular order nor are they listed by their gravity.

1 A truck smashed together ever so gently its side with a fellow car
2 a car gently rear ending a bus
3 yesterday, I was in the lane on the left of a truck rear ending a smaller truck. Minor damage, yet both stopped and probably blocked traffic since most accidents seem to take place in the center lane.
4 today a big smash 'em up, 2 cars perfectly front ended each other. They were smashed up pretty bad. By the angle, it looked like they were both attempting to turn, sadly they turned directly into each other. Due to the amount of damage, I assume they were both driving aggressively.
5 an ambulance was already there. The bicycle was on the ground in front of a car on the in-town kind of highway in the center of the road where 2 highways merge. Both are 2 lane roads travelling btw 60-80 km/hr (about 35-45 mph). The car was stopped, traffic was really backed up and there were large spots of blood on the ground.
6 2 ladies standing there in the middle of the road, blocking traffic. They rear-ended each other. There was absolutely no damage, yet they were blocking traffic and fussing.

Near Accidents
Most of my time is spent on the N1 (la route nationale 1) connecting Dar Bouazza with Casablanca. It passes right in front of Xavier's work at Sidi Maarif and the kid's school in Oasis. Both near accidents happened on the N1.

1 I was in traffic at a light. There is an area where a lot of people live just on the edge of Casablanca. There are lots of fruit stands, kind of like a permanent souk (market). There are always trucks stopping, people crossing everywhere, bicycles, motorbikes, taxis swerving everywhere, then suddenly screaching to a halt in the right hand lane to pick up a potential customer. There is also the occasional lost sheep wandering across the 6 lane road. The donkey or horse pulling a cart and the occasional man pushing the cart on foot into oncoming traffic.

On this particular day, I guess school was out. People stand on the median btw the 2 roads, then sort of out of the blue, make a sudden, ill timed, mad dash across to the other side. Most of the time, this happens mid street (ie NOT at the crosswalk, though it would probably more dangerous at the intersection) and most often during a green light while traffic is already cruising along. the median consists of 2 very high cement curbs with a lower middle made of dirt. I was in the left lane nearest the median. These 2 highschool girls were standing in the median. The light was green, I was already driving maybe 20-25 km ph when these 2 girls decided to suddenly dash out to cross the street. My car was the first to be crossed. 1 girl made it, the other girl clipped her toe and fell sprawled out on the ground right in front of my car. I hit the brakes and waited. Her friend helped her up and they stood back in the median. I waited for them to be safe, before proceeding. I think she's lucky I wasn't an agressive driver. Had a white taxi been in my place, she may have been run over.

For the record, it is my opinion that the white taxis are the worst drivers I've ever encountered in my life (outside of Brownsville, TX.) Sometimes, I want to roll down the window and yell at them.

2 Motorbike
Yes I have seen everything carried on a motorbike. Entire families. Mom, dad and kid. Infants. I have seen objects, impressive anyone can put that on a bike and still drive. I've seen people carry 10 kilo bags of flour maybe?? btw their legs. I saw I guy with boxes up his back and a large one held precariously btw his legs. His feet weren't on the pedals because his legs were being used to hold the large box into place. On this particular day it was a father and young boy behind him. Mind you very, very few people ever wear helmets on a motorbike, NEVER a child. I had just passed around this man when he started driving his bike all squiggly and then the bike fell down and he and the boy just toppled off into the street. N1 is a big road where people drive 60-80 km/hr. They weren't driving too fast and both seemed to be ok. No one hit them thank goodness and people around them helped.