Road behaviour on SA roads

Any effort in comparing the traffic culture of Vancouver, Canada, with any city in South Africa, will prove that South Africans road users do not respect traffic rules at all. During my stay in Canada, I experienced a friendly users cycling community. Special cycling path ways and signs for pedestrians are common all over. This does not feature in SA (except in Stellenbosch and Potchefstroom). Instead, cyclists are risking their lives on SA roads with aggressive taxi drivers and no or little sympathy at all.

Pedestrians in Canada can cross the street safely when traffic stops way before the painted lines.  Cars do not speed up to the limit with screeching tyres or skipping traffic lights as it is very often the case in SA.  Coaches and lorries travel at a comfortable 80 kilometers per hour and stops when deers or bears cross the road.  Modern automobiles with huge engine capacity drive carefully on the best high ways one could imagine. 

The same friendly road users culture exists for example in Stockholm, Sweden. No drink and driving is tolerated at all.  Citizens are educated not to drink and drive. Unfortunately this is only a dream in SA. The sowing of beer cans and empty bottles are common all over SA.

Even in the big metropolis, London, one finds special path ways for bicycles in the CBD. In the university city of Cambridge, there are more bicycles than motor cars. In Germany and the Netherlands, it is a common site to see students on bicycles. However, in SA, people frown on somebody on a bicycle at most institutions for higher learning...Indeed a very sad state of affairs.