Sarajevo Traffic

After writing in my last post about how I’m having trouble thinking of new blog topics, my mother-in-law sent me an email pointing out that I haven’t yet described Sarajevo’s traffic and driving etiquette.  There are a few small quirks that make driving (well, riding for me) and navigating in Bosnia a little bit different that in the US.

First of all, the majority of the cars in Sarajevo are manual transmission.  So the ride is usually a lit bit “jerkier”, but I guess that the drivers like having something to do and using less gas.  Generally, most of the cars in Sarajevo are pretty fuel-efficient.  There are a lot of small 2-door cars, which are extremely rare in the US.  I think that lack of space might motivate drivers to buy small cars, as well as the cost of gasoline.  I have calculated that gas here costs almost exactly the same as in America.  So, it’s not as expensive as in other parts of Europe, but is still costly considering that the average income is much lower. 

I bet that the percentage of the population in Sarajevo that owns a car and/or drives is much lower than in a comparably dense city in the US.  Much of the working class cannot afford to drive, and travel by public transit instead.  Moreover, there seems to be a large gender gap: I think that at least 2 out of every 3 drivers I see are men.  So, the typical Bosnian car owner is an upper or middle-class male.

As would be expected, I see more European-made cars, and less American and Asia-made vehicles.  I think that Volkswagens are the most common in Sarajevo.  Also popular are European luxury cars, like BMWs, Porsches, and Mercedes.  There are a few makers that are virtually unheard of in the US that I see every day: Renault, Skoda, and Peugeot.  There is a Renault model called “Megane”, which is constantly being pointed out to me.  J

I am glad that I don’t have to drive in Sarajevo.  I’m a little bit intimidated by driving generally, even with an automatic transmission, and I think it would take me a lot of time to learn to drive stick shift.  On top of that, the roads are not always in the best condition or clearly marked, especially in the more rural areas of Bosnia.  Sometimes, in the Republika Srpska, the road signs are only in Cyrillic, which I can usually read, but takes extra time and concentration.  Even if I was only driving in Sarajevo, where I know where I’m going, I think it would be difficult to navigate around some of the more aggressive drivers.  However, I’m not sure that they are any worse than some of the drivers I’ve encountered in cities on America’s East Coast.  There seem to be an abundant number of traffic police in Sarajevo (maybe without enough to do, since I’ve already lost count of the number of times I’ve been in a car or cab that’s arbitrarily pulled over) so the driving isn’t as crazy as it might be otherwise.

Being a pedestrian and navigating around the traffic can be a little bit tricky too.  In Sarajevo, there is a lack of parking and the streets are very narrow, so it is common for cars to be parked on the sidewalk.  As a result, pedestrians must zigzag between walking in the street and ducking between parked cars to let drivers past.  It’s not exactly the safest system, so I try to be as alert as possible when I am walking around traffic.  Also, very few drivers stop at pedestrian crosswalks, so I usually have to just wait for an ebb in the traffic flow and then make a quick dash for it.  When a driver actually does stop, most pedestrians seemed awed and confused by the sight…haha.

One thing that seems extremely weird to Americans in Sarajevo is the way that traffic lights operate here.  There are a lot more signals: green for go, flashing green for “hurry up or stop”, yellow, red, and another yellow for “it’s about to turn green”.  I like that there is a flashing green before the light turns yellow, since it gives one a little bit more time to decide whether to keep going or to slow to a stop.  However, I find the yellow before green a bit strange, and also kind of dangerous, since a lot of drivers will start rolling forward before the light is actually green.

I can only think of one more major difference between traffic in Sarajevo and in the United States.  Cabs are in abundance here and quite cheap.  Riding from the city center to Otes takes about 25 minutes, and usually costs about 12-14 marks (about ten bucks).  Going from Evanston to O’Hare is about the same time and distance, and costs $35.  So, it is not an affordable option to take cabs everywhere in the US, whereas they are an ideal method for traveling short distances in Sarajevo.

Taxi etiquette is not exactly the same as what I’m used to.  In the US, passengers only sit in the front seat if there isn’t room for everyone to squeeze in the back.  Here, the drivers expect that someone will ride up front.  I don’t mind, but I hate that they often complain when I put on a seatbelt.  The drivers take it as an insult to their driving, but I just try to explain that I always try to wear a seatbelt, no matter how good the driver.

Frequently, taxi drivers speak little or no English.  And sometimes they are still chatty, even if I only understand a small percentage of when they say.  I always try to make conversation anyway, and get some of my best Bosnian practice in cab rides.  Most cab drivers are very friendly and honest, but I have had a few over-charge me, especially coming from the airport.  The trick is to refuse a ride if the driver refuses to put his meter on.  It's hard to know until you are already in the cab, though.  So, the other trick is to call for a cab.  I've never been ripped off by a cab that I called, only by ones that I've flagged.

So…that’s the deal with driving/riding in Bosnia…