THE SUDDEN U-TURN
How A Foreign Culture Can Change Driving Perception ⬗ /9th August, 2026
Glossary:
boda-boda = Kiswahili for motorcycle
Note: in Tanzania there is left hand driving.
I consider myself a composed and confident driver: calm behind the wheel, not easily getting upset at other road users, and
checking twice before making a move. I do not remember anyone who has left my car frightened. And in Tanzania I wanted to
keep it this way.
One day our two superiors informed us that they would visit. So we planned to travel to Dar Es Salaam to
pick them up from the airport. Their arrival was scheduled for late afternoon and it seemed best to book an
overnight stay before leaving for Lindi the following morning.
It was our second trip to the city and memories from our first stay let me grow tense. Not so much because of the four hundred and fifty km from Lindi to Dar. Things were relaxed here because there was little traffic. I dreaded the dual carriage roads in the west of the city, with numerous road constructions, traffic lights, railway crossings, and heavy traffic squeezing through these bottlenecks. Boda-Bodas weaving between cars, heavy trucks, honking horns - a nightmare, even in broad daylight.
We got to the airport in good time to pick up our guests, but we were delayed on our way back to the city. It was getting dark as we approached the guest house. We were passing through a stack interchange, and I for some reason missed the right exit. I found myself on a dual carriage road with a solid median barrier. The farther we got, the slower we went: heavy truck traffic surrounded us. Finally there was only stop and go. I realized that we had picked the road to the sea port, and there was no way to make a turn. I got jittery because we were getting late for registration at the guest house.
Finally I spotted a break in the median barrier ahead. But the truck in front of us came to a halt. Blimey! Suddenly a gap opened in the left lane. A quick look in the mirror: free. I quickly swerved left, the engine roared as I sped up, passing the truck in front of us. I made a sharp right turn onto the median, another quick look to the left — no oncoming traffic. I completed my hasty U-turn, happy and relieved that everything had gone well.
"Boy, oh boy!" I heard one of my project managers say, "You have adapted quite well to the African way of driving!" I looked at his face, but I could not make up my mind whether he was appreciative or frightened.
Alexander Breitenbach
Photo: Traffic Jam at Night", by Thang Nguyen, pexels.com