The subject for today is another of the basic living issues which all people face and the shape it takes in Albania. The subject is traffic. I have been told that the best word to describe traffic in many Asian cities is horrific. Perhaps traffic in Tirana is not as bad as that, but the best word I can think of to describe it is perilous.

Partly this is because until 1990 all vehicles were government owned. It was illegal to own a private car. This meant that there was very little traffic and very little need for an extensive network of roads. When private ownership became possible, however, vehicle ownership took off, and with two consequences. One is that the roads are filled with relatively novice drivers. The other is that road use expanded more rapidly than road improvement so roads leave much to be desired. Both of these consequences play out in the streets.

I believe that every nation has its written and unwritten driving rules, and my observation is that in Albania those rules include:

• Pedestrians do not exist. Every curb and every crossing should be marked walkers beware, because when you try to cross a street you and only you know you are there—vehicles will not be watching for you. The exception is when enough mass of humanity in unison tries to claim a pathway—then a car may slow down or veer aside. Nancy and I look for businesses we can frequent and services we can access that are on our side of the street in front of us, because crossing that street is a dangerous and time-consuming undertaking. We also plan our walking routes carefully, taking into consideration the time of day and the location of the safest crossing places. On occasion we have even been known to cross a street when an unexpected gap occurred, even though we had no reason to cross—the gap was there so instinctively we took it!

• Lanes are only general guidelines. Veering and weaving is the norm, and the center line is easily ignored. This is a bit unnerving to the novice passenger when he or she suddenly realizes that the car he is in is heading directly towards oncoming traffic, but such is the case. This rule also means that if you want to make a turn, right or left, you can make it from wherever you want. It is not unusual to see a car suddenly swerve sharply across three lanes of traffic to make a turn. U-turns are the same—you can make them anywhere a space can be claimed, no matter how many cars must screech to a stop as you do…

• Horns are meant to be used. A simple rule, but at certain times of day or night quite annoying. While few cars simply drive down the road with horn blaring, I have searched many times in vain for some possible explanation for the horn I hear. Perhaps the driver is just testing it to be certain it is ready for some eventuality…

• Traffic police have better things to do than attend to traffic. While sometimes at some corners you find a traffic warden who is actually directing traffic, it is more common to see such figures in groups of two or three chatting on the sidewalks, no matter what chaos is developing at their intersection. The same is true as pedestrians wait in vain for a gap in the traffic, he interest level of traffic police in the pedestrians’ plight is zero. Crosswalks do exist but I have no idea why as they impart no special privileges to pedestrians.

• Cars must be washed daily, if not more often. I have not counted, but I would guess that after little cafes that serve espresso, the most common business in Albania is the car wash. In small garages, empty fields, by the side of the road, or wherever, pressure washers with soap and bucket call out to drivers—and they respond. Old car or new, it makes no difference, it must be washed.

These are some of the rules of the road and there are others, but to be accurate I should add that people tell me things are improving, and I see signs of that. There are major resurfacing projects going on all around the country; some traffic lights have bulbs and some of those bulbs work some of the time, and when they do drivers almost always obey them; when a traffic warden asserts himself the traffic usually obeys. Albania is progressing! The challenge I think it faces is to improve the situation fast enough to get ahead of the rapid growth in the number of vehicles.

Years ago I was startled to read an article by a renegade Latin American Catholic priest in, of all places, Bicycling magazine. The article made this observation: if you add up the time spent in earning the money to purchase and maintain a car plus the time spent driving the car plus the time spent attending to the car’s needs for gas, repair, etc. and then divide that into the actual miles driven, the average miles traveled per hour would usually work out to be around 4. His point was that many can walk faster than that—and that to do so would be healthier… Over the years I have pondered that article and the point, which I find statistically accurate but clearly oversimplified. Yet Iit makes me ask to what degree the automobile is a machine that has become our master. In Genesis 1:26 it says, And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion… That dominion is authority and it is ours. But as I look and hear the chaos which passes our apartment every day, I wonder if we are relinquishing that authority to a thing we have created. I also wonder how we could manage it better…


Oh, yes, one more thing. When I talk about cars in Albania I could use the word Mercedes instead, as the two are almost synonymous. Lacking official statistics, from our balcony I took four sample counts of 30 passing vehicles. The results showed the following number of Mercedes in each group of 30: 10…17…14…16. In other words, approximately 1 out of every 2 vehicles on the roads of Albania is a Mercedes…I have been told a reason for this, but will reserve that tale for another time.