Road rules

Anyone that travels knows that every country has slightly different traffic laws. Well, except for countries that have a total lack of traffic laws. Even though Ukraine appears to fall into the category of countries without laws, they do actually exist. And one of the first laws we were warned about is that when an accident happens, no one involved is allowed to move their cars. At all. Even to the side of the road in order to allow traffic to pass. As you can imagine, this does nothing to help the already horrible traffic in Kyiv.

On Friday, I left the house a little before 10am to meet some friends. About a block from home, I passed an accident on our street. As the accident was blocking about 3/4 of a two-way street, traffic was pretty backed up. I returned home a little after noon, and what did I pass? The accident site, still in the same position. Apparently the police hadn’t arrived yet.

The really amazing thing is how drivers handle such a ridiculous situation. I have yet to see a driver yell at another driver. They calmly get out of their cars, look at the damage, pull out their cell phone, and start making calls. In fact, the woman in the red car was sitting in the driver’s seat reading a book both times I walked past. I guess they know that once they’re involved in an accident, their day is pretty much shot, so they might as well relax. It’s very strange, especially being from a country where road rage is the norm.