There is no doubt that the driving situation in Cyprus is one that frustrates everyone, whether it is the state of the roads or the drivers themselves. Whilst we are by no means the worse in the world (yes, there are countries that are much worse!), we are still not reaching acceptable levels.
At the moment, the bone of contention for me is the massive road restructuring near my area of Vergina – near the new stadium. At present the roads are in a temporary formation, around a semi-ready future roundabout. How people are not crashing left right and centre is beyond me as no one has a clue whose right of way it is, and most cars don't stop to check!
Logically, because it is an intersection-cum-future roundabout, the rule is 'priority to the right in a right-of-way system' (or so I believe), but this is not adhered to. The actual roundabout itself looks finished from one direction and I have seen a few rental cars naively try to get round it, only to find it blocked half way! Furthermore, from one direction as you proceed straight, you kind of fly over a very raised left-hand part of the road, which I am also amazed has not seen carnage.
The outcome of the unclear road system is one of three: drivers who understand, stop and give way to the right; those who just carry on going and wait for everyone else to stop for them, and those who are unsure/cautious and stop to let everyone through on both sides, waiting for a gap in the traffic to quickly drive through. I fall into group three, which incurs much beeping from the cars behind, but I am not risking the assumption that the cars on my left will stop for me, because up until now, only a small percentage have! Temporary or not, construction site or not, everything should be clear, logical and safe.
But enough about the roads, and on to the drivers… My biggest gripe of all is drivers who do not indicate. Aside from the fact that it is a legal safety requirement, it must be one of the simplest, easiest things to do in the world, yet so many cannot be bothered to flick their wrist up or down. If these people find such an easy and essential task so difficult, how on earth are they coping with the big things in life?
The second bugbear is the lack of care or respect when it comes to parking. This encompasses those who sashay blatantly out of their car once they have parked in a disabled spot, to those who park fully on a pavement, thus blocking pushchairs and wheelchairs, and of course the violations in between (like parking outright in more than one space). I think that more than the violation, it is the sheer arrogance and 'say something to me about it if you dare' attitude that gets to me.
Personally, I no longer say anything after many an argument, and now think that my sanity is worth more. If the powers that be are not enforcing the traffic laws, then it certainly isn't my job!
First appeared in The Cyprus Weekly, 22/08/14
