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I like the topic  sooo much , you perfectly described how people should cross the streets in Egypt  !!

Really i have no words to say can describe my feelings after reading this topic, maybe I am very sad because of our strange behavior, many times I stop during driving my car to allow old man or woman to pass the street but the driver of the rear car doesn't like  that and start to shout with me and sometimes use his horn to say some words to me,
last April I spent one week in Munich and I  discovered that in Cairo we live in jungle not in Town
good bless Cairo

i`m sure your words are right
but also rememeber that in Egypt there is 80 milion person
so of course it will be difficult to cross the road but congratulations cuz when you success to cross the egyptian road you are Egyptian

No words may compare with yours if I have to add a comment.

At first, you are awesome in descriptive writing; really you know how to use the appropriate words to embody your vision on mere papers using only a key bored.
I am an Egyptian guy, but frankly I may be regarded as a risk-taker as you have mentioned.
When the road is free with no cars, while I am traversing it, I feel bored, cuz no excitement involved.
also, if you wanna be a superman you gotta fix your eye on the road while a child or an elderly is crossing it, cuz be sure 100% that something BAD gonna happen, consequently you gonna have the honor not to make it happen.
Though, this may end up imaging U as a hero like George in Gray's Anatomy when he tried to rescue the young lady, ending his life in a road spot.
Yet, you did not mention a very critical accident-causing factor, which is: female driving.
There is an old saying "every Great man must be supported with a woman" laterally "behind every great man is a woman"; but I SAY "behind every serious accident is a woman".
so, whenever you wanna cross the street while women-led car is approaching, NEVER TRY TO COMPETE WITH HER IN ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE ROAD BEFORE SHE PASS, CUZ IF YOU WOULD DO this and succeeded in reaching the side way before she make it, she is gonna go after you ended up running over you.

Sorry for the long comment, I wish I go further


See ya

"   "every Great man must be supported with a woman" laterally "behind every great man is a woman"; but I SAY "behind every serious accident is a woman".
so, whenever you wanna cross the street while women-led car is approaching, NEVER TRY TO COMPETE WITH HERE IN ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE ROAD BEFORE SHE PASS, CUZ IF YOU WOULD DO this and succeeded in reaching the side way before she make it, she is gonna go after you ended up running over you.    "

@body_friend

I am sorry but I take offense to that last statement you made! That is SO SEXIST! Incase you haven't noticed I am a FEMALE and I do drive! If you want to look at statistics and number of accidents caused in Egypt you will find that most of them are caused by MEN! So, let's just take the subject for what it is about shall we, which is Safety when crossing the road.

No offence at all.
i am talking about the local Females as I have no experience with the foreign ones.
may I ask you Question??
why are you getting nervous so Often?
i post my opinion in a very simple and spontaneous way, but you reply in a very defensive way.
my comment was humorously-based but you turned me out as a male chauvinist.
regarding the surveys, I recommend you to go for it once more as I doubt they had been taken in Egypt.
you can do a survey yourself, ask about 10 persons, male/female what is the most potential reason behind accidents in Egypt??
9 out of ten will tell you female driving


you are an Egyptian NOW, so you should think as they Think
or do you have another opinion??

god bless you

DUDE, read my profile!!! I am HALF Egyptian and have lived here for 20 years!

HAHA

This topic is really cracking me up

@IrishAlexandrian

looks like the 20 years aren't enough for them they're going for the usual 25 year prison sentence to recognize you as have lived here

@body_friendship

My mom drives & she's a hell of a driver on the other hand there are kids who are MALEs  playing race me on the streets.

I hate generalization it only shows a narrow perspective.

I rest my case!
Thank you!
Witness may step down.

@body_friendship

My mom drives & she's a hell of a driver on the other hand there are kids who are MALEs  playing race me on the streets.

I hate generalization it only shows a narrow perspective
.......................................................
Hi, how are you doing bro?

Welcome in Egypt, your homeland

Seems you have been abroad since "the zero year" of your life.

Me too, I was born a broad, lived about 7 years out.

I think you may need spending more times driving a car to recognize what I am talking about




I hate generalization too, but regarding your mother case; it's called AN EXCEPTION.

See ya bro

@body_friendship

I've been here for 24 years !!!!!!!

How much more time do you think I should spend driving in Egypt??

& As long as there is something called an exception you shouldn't use the word "All"

good to hear
but i did not use "ALL".
if you find it, let me see it please

Long Story Short- First time my husband grabbed my hand and started telling me we would cross the road to get to the "Corneesh" I almost hyperventilated there on the spot....
UGHHHH! CARSSSS TO FAST. No thanks hubby.

I think it's kinda fun I think my husband try's to be more careful when I'm around, cuz I'm always saying to myself we could have totally just made if we had gone ;)good time, gotta love Egypt

This is the illustrated version of the original post..±ô´Ç±ôÌý

It is much better to cross in a group for your safety it is so wild out there

you would need more than just iron balls & courage to cross the river

stare and give an eye if you feel danger is coming near

Just come out from no where and ready to cross the river

even if you are just about to reach the safe side never relief till you get all over the other side

if you are afraid wait for a local and move with them

cross the river very fast even your feet wouldn't touch the surface

Is there any one still asking why it is called the road river

Declaration Note: 70% of those photos are from the migrations of wild beasts in Kenya.. crossing the Mara river in Masai Mara game and none of them from Egypt streets..lol

I was very enchanted with the right direct to the core easy wards just telling the hard to say with the most simple wards.. then i was captured with your storytelling style.. i feel i would be waiting for more of your posts and encourage you to collect all your writing into a book.. I would be glad to create the illustration and designs for you..lol:cool: 

To be honest when i had read this post many ideas jumped into my mind and most of them were a comparative story between crossing the road river and crossing the river itself.. what about the Masai Mara.. this was all true similar case.

The Mara river scene ..while all wild beast are crossing the river at the same time every year in the great migrations.. they all know that is a great chance they couldn't cross the river and the river is crowded with hungry crocodiles that would try to catch almost anything enter the water.. so the scene would be war zone ..

Almost all what you had mentioned applied on the wild life. I'm sure that term of" the road river" wasn't originated from air it just return back to wild life..lol


congratulations for this successful post willing for more & more inspiring..

IrishAlexandrian wrote:

When I cross the streets here I use a technique I like to call ‘the owl’. As I’m sure you already know an owl’s neck can rotate almost a full 360 degrees. When you come to cross the road here, you have to be prepared for anything coming or going in any direction. Owl vision helps you see the traffic from all possible directions and be prepared for the unexpected. On many occasions you will find that a car may come in the opposite direction of where it shouldn’t be coming from or an anxious driver has forgotten where his breaks are and has pushed down on the gas peddle as you happen to be crossing. Some drivers will drive will even speed up while your foot is in mid air between the curb and the road and you will swear blind that he or she was aiming for you.

You are probably wondering how to use this technique of mine. Let me tell you. Your head can only turn as far as your neck will allow. So, you have to rely on other senses not just sight. Your hearing is very valuable, because like a driver you have a blind spot, your ears make up for that by picking up the sound of the wheels on the tarmaced roads and the revving of the car engines. Your eyes and ears give you a 3D CineMax experience. So, if you have your i-pod in your ears when you walk the streets to avoid hearing the buzz of the city or the harassing comments, pause the tunes when you come to cross the road. If you donÂ’t you will put yourself in jeopardy and ruin the CineMax experience. 

The Rules of crossing the road in Egypt are quite different. For people who have never been to Egypt this will probably be one of the biggest shocks you get when you first arrive. The best way to describe it is ‘taking your life in to your own hands’. If you are a risk taker or a dare devil, you may get some enjoyment out of this but it won’t compare to sky diving.

Most people are familiar with the rules of crossing a road at a designated area better known as the zebra crossing, standing on the side walk and looking both ways before crossing the road and wait for the light to turn red so that you can make it to the other side safely. Those you ‘may’ use here but that doesn’t mean it will always work and that the drivers and other pedestrians will abide by them. People in Egypt cross the road at any given time, even when the traffic is at its busiest and cars are rushing by at top speed. They will step off the side walk and walk across the road without a side ways glance at the incoming traffic. They have it down to a fine art. Watching them makes my blood turn cold, but I have to admit that they do have balls of steel. Personally, I would much rather wait for a BIG gap in the traffic before trying to cross the road. So, please don’t attempt it!

I have also noticed that when the pedestrians walk across the road, they have no fear in their stride or in their eyes. They walk across the street like they own it and that the cars are the ones who are intruding on their domain.  That is a look that you do need to have down pat because the drivers here sense fear and if they think you are afraid they will not slow down, they will intimidate you by speeding up.
You need to make eye contact with the driver and stare them down so that they know that YOU ARE GOING TO CROSS THE ROAD AND THEY ARE GOING TO SLOW DOWN. Think of it as a kind of Wild West show down.

Another tactic is to stand near a local who is about to cross the road and move with them. Like everything you do in life, it takes practice!

i almost fell off my chair laughing
yea it's a skill
and thanks god, all skills are learnable, you just need some practice to master it and hopefully without losing your life