HUMMMMMMM! On the main highway between Djibouti City and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia there are many truck/trailer accidents. Most are one vehicle crashes, probably caused by excessive sleepiness (36-48 hours on the road without sleeping), alcohol or khat.
Many of these are roll overs caused by excessive speed around the corners or wheels leaving the road and flipping the trailers. Some are head on collisions between two trucks/trailers or truck/trailer and minibus. Most of these collisions occur on blind curves, where no one bothers to have a clear line of sight before attempting to pass.
The picture above shows a truck with its trailer that left the road, front tires hitting the ditch just right and flipping the truck up on its end. One of the strangest accidents we have come upon was a trailer off the road with its truck chasse flipped upright perched on top of the container on the truck's trailer. It looked as if the truck was riding atop the container.
We drive defensively in Djibouti. Between the animals on and alongside the road (goats, sheep, camels, donkeys and a few baboons), pedestrians who walk down the middle of the road or cross without looking and the wayward trucks with their trailers, a lone driver in a Toyota Hylux truck needs to be observant, quick and agile just to survive. However, our Hylux trucks do have an advantage. Because these trucks are small and have 4 WD, we can go offroad to go around alot of the pileups and weave our way through the long lines of trucks/trailers whose engines are too small to carry their heavy loads.
I just came across your blog (via Facebook and mutual Kitsap connections)and am enjoying reading about your adventures. What a wonderful opportunity to spend time in another culture, and it looks like you're making the most of it. Incredibly wet and rainy back in the Pacific NW today. ~Tracy Zhu, Kingston, WA
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