Blink!

When I was learning to drive, my mother had two pieces of advice to offer:

1. Beware of drivers wearing a hat
2. Watch out when the biker's legs stop moving

While Khartoum is singularly lacking in cyclists, there is certainly no shortage of drivers wearing scarves, turbans and other various headgear. Heeding my Mom's counsel, my senses go on yellow alert as soon as I catch the sight of a covered head and it is rarely an overreaction. I don't know if it is related to being visually impaired when having something on your head or to the fact that headgear somehow puts you in your own little world, but hatted drivers tend to do crazy stuff. I mean CRRRAZYYYY...

Photo by Alistair Caldicott

Re advice number 2, as mentioned, we don't really need to worry about bicycles here. But the principle behind this still holds true: observe and expect the unexpected. After three years here, I can pick out the vehicles that will turn left from the far right lane with 99% probability or make my way down Africa road at an even speed while dodging U-turning amjads (taxis), stopping buses and randomly crossing pedestrians. The secret is an accute sense of observation, anticipation and pro-activity.

In his book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell exposes how our adaptative unconscious makes decisions rapidly, automatically and with very little information. Obviously, this doesn't just happen, it gets gradually developed through experience, training and knowledge, all of which we have had time to acquire fighting our way through town here for the last few years. The end result is an extremely streamlined decision-making process responding quickly, efficiently and effortlessly to whatever the traffic happens to throw at us. In layman's terms: we hit the gas and the brakes or turn the steering wheel without really having to think about it anymore, all the while holding a conversation or admiring the landscape, despite the fact that Khartoum traffic can be a terrifying sight to behold for any newcomers.

Now I must say that this talent of staying alive in Khartoum traffic is probably completely useless anywhere else in the word. It is based on a keen observation of local behaviours and practices that would be very different in another place. Let's face it, most of us are not apt anymore to drive in our own home countries. I know that I get lost with all the traffic signs in Europe, I just don't have the capacity to read them fast enough, even in areas where I know my way around.

But here in Khartoum, our adaptative unconscious holds the key to our survival.