The Fishers in La Paz, Bolivia

I was reading an interesting article by John Staddon in The Atlantic (that I bought at the airport in July when I scooped up as many magazines as possible before boarding the plane to La Paz) about why there are so many traffic accidents in the United States. He was comparing the States with England, but I could relate in thinking about driving here in Bolivia. What I basically gathered from his article was that Americans are usually taught to follow rules instead of to use their best logic and instincts to drive well. He points out that American drivers are very preoccupied with following signs (which are posted by the side of the road, where you’re not supposed to be looking), watching traffic lights (which are hanging above you, where you’re not supposed to be looking), looking at their speedometers (which are inside the car, where you’re not supposed to be looking) and scanning for police officers behind you (again, not where you’re supposed to be looking!). He thinks all these measures that are meant to keep us safe actually cause distractions, which in turn, cause accidents.

Driving in Bolivia would seem to support his hypothesis. There seem to be very few rules, very few stop signs and very few traffic lights. All the police are on foot or on motorcycles, so they don’t really do traffic stops. Driving on the wrong side of the street, not a big deal. Driving in reverse down the street, not a problem. Cutting off other drivers and keeping within inches of the car in front of you, that’s expected. Pedestrians having the right of way, yeah right! The drivers are not in any way polite to each other, but I will say they are very aware of each other. And I guess the possible evidence that the article might be right is that we almost never see any accidents here in La Paz. We see a small fender bender maybe once a month. The only really serious accidents I have heard of take place on the small dirt roads that lead from the city to small vacation towns in the tropical regions.

All that said, I have never driven here and I never plan to. However, I have gotten used to being in the taxis during the crazy driving, I hardly ever scream now Personally, though, I am thankful for that rule-laden driver’s ed class they make everyone take in the States, and I will be happy to be a distracted American driver again at Christmastime!