Since the 3 weeks that the office has been relocated to Ebene, the extra kilometers sometimes turn into some source of inspiration for blog posts.
For instance, we all know that the motorway from Pailles to Ebene is a 4-lanes one, each for a specific purpose :
Emergency Lane, Crawler Lane, normal lane and the Fast lane.
And during peak time, this fast lane (a.k.a La troisieme voie) is used to vehiculate traffic from Ebene to Port Louis. That leaves you with 3 + 1 lanes :
Now, picture this :
- A heavy vehicle running at full engine while being on the crawler lane.
- A bus needs to take over and moves to the normal lane
- Now, both crawler and normal lanes will be moving slowly until the bus succeeds in overtaking the heavy lorry.
- With these 2 lanes moving nearly at a tortoise’s pace, other vehicles now use the emergency lane.
And that’s how we land up with the following layout :
And in real life, you get shots like this :
And the same thing happens when the normal lane is at a stop. Other vehicles then switch to the emergency one.
That’s how we drive in Mauritius.
Be alert and drive carefully.
btw, there’s the monthly game of “Guess Where“ going on. If you want to take up that challenge, try to guess where the 2 pics have been taken. Results to be proclaimed on Monday 19th August 2011. Check it out!
Yashvinblogs 
This has been so since the past decade. 🙂
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At least its better than how people drive in india!!
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Maybe it’s high time the “authorities” enforced a minimum speed for motor vehicles on main roads? After all, driving at 25 km/h on a road where the speed limit is 110 is almost like having parked in the middle of the road…
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Minimum driving speed: top sa!
En bann lezott (capav moins top):
– tou la-ligne penn jaune/oranz fluo (couma bann new-style vibro-humps ete: much more visible even under heavy rains)
– biss ek camion pas gagne droit ditou vinn dans fast lane.
– 2par4, ek 4par4, ek loto pas gagne droit rentt dans crawler lane ni dans emergency lane, sauf si li en panne ek li pe alle rentt dans extrem-goss pou parker.
– camera partout lor sak 100-150m pou detecter bann self-proclaimed “as du volant” ki’nn gagne licence en-bas latab ek ki content slalomer, brille la-ligne central, doubler dans goss, etc…
– properly trained motar sak 100-150m pou arett bann sofar.
– lambulance ek remork sak 1-2km both ways pou bann raisons evidente: si accident arriver, fauder pas attann kikenn so di-sang devider nett tank ki lambulance pe trace-tracer ek arriver quand trop tard.
Bon, ki zott dir?
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nice post, that ‘variable’ lane thingy is dangerous. I hope that one day we manage to stop using that.
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thanks ashvin..i can print a copy of your findings and go to court to fight my case..thank you for the findings..i was thinking how to find a way out.
mo in gagne un contravention akoz doubler dan gauche..mo ti p drive a la hauteur de bus-stop pailles just avant kalachand, exactement kot bus-stop pailles @ 8.15 a.m…un camion in vin dan normal lane..zot penser mo just apres un gros camion et mo bizin suivre li juska mont-ory @ <10km/h
letemps mo doubler li dan gauche, un monsieur trafic ki sorti direction mauvilac p monter mem direction ki moi.
just sa lheure la mo p change lane et mo trouv trafic la p flash moi pou areter..mais mo pas areter..monsieur traffic suiv moi et ariv mont ory, li blok circulation net just pou ki resli aret moi..lerla li in servi moi papier pou ale la cour akoz mo pas in accepter ki mo in fer un faute..
mo in essay explik li ki li pas normal ki un camion rest dan sa lane la mais lacour ki pou kpav decider lor la..
en attendant convocation pou ale la cour
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Good luck and do keep up informed.
btw, you should read this, else I might be fine you the next time 🙂
http://www.yashvinblogs.com/my-name/
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Mo penser pou to en tort to en tort. La loi li clair: pas gagne droit doubler dans gauche. Et la loi li fine faire pou ki tout dimoune respecter li, comme ca conduite ban automobilistes vine un peu plus previsible et civilisé (supposément) et de ce fait ban nombreux accidents evités.Et apres, si kikene (dans to cas, 1 camion) per mal faire ou per enfreindre la loi, li pas 1 raison pou ki to mal faire ou enfreindre la loi toi aussi. Imagine toi si tou dimoune faire ca dans tout ban situations, le monde pou enba laho
Par contre mo penser to cav sorti dans to probleme en plaidant coupable mais to rod clemence la court parski 1 camion ti per blok toi. (mo tan dire des fois to cav gagne zis 1 warning). Mais si to al “full frontal” et dire to pas en tort etc. sure sure to per gagne to PV ou plus grave si to plaide non coupable. Bon mo pas 1 avocat, mais mo penser li marche comme ca
Bon mo pena nanrien contre toi hein.. mo zis penser ki c’est les faits..
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Et aussi, le fait ki to pane arreter alors ki tone dir ki traffic ti p flash toi, sa ine encor plis aggrave le cas.
La li cpv met ene zistoire comme “failing to stop” lo to la tete.
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Met 1 minimum speed limit la aussi li pa 1 mauvais l’idee…juste ki ban poids lourds pu gagne problem lor la montee.
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I hope you were not “the driver” by taking these picture.. and if so, it shows that you’r not a law abider and also was putting other people life at risk by driving and taking pictures at the same time..
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Definitely not 🙂
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Just to remind you of the importance of safety: pay attention to this little video clip, and then you’ll see for yourself if safety is only for others
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“Met 1 minimum speed limit la aussi li pa 1 mauvais l’idee…juste ki ban poids lourds pu gagne problem lor la montee.”
> Principe la li kapav simp : si ou pa kapav roul plis ki 60, 70 ou whatever km/h, pa vinn lor lotorout. Otherwise you become a hindrance — and potentially a danger — for the other users. Si koumsa, enn boug kapav vinn ek so saret bef lor lotorout, ousa ek so skateboard. Tro fasil ena dimounn ranpli zot camion enn maximum (business is business after all), apré sa li amerd tout dimounn paski li pa kapav mont lamontan. Ek mo pansé bann trakter, bann JCB, etc. pa gaign zot plas lor lotorout. Lot zour monn tour enn masinn koup kann pé roulé ant Pailles ek Camp Chapelon !
Sinon kapav poz question kifer bizin enn “crawler lane”. Kifer pa met zis 3 lanes normal ? Pli lant roul koté gos net, intipé pli rapid roul dan sant, ek bann fizet roul dan drwat. Combien fwa ou tour enn van / camion inpé lant res dan lane central ? “Non, mo pa enn bel camion moi ! Crawler lane pa pou moi sa !” Lerla trafic ralenti akoz sa bann égois-la, ek dimoun pé fer slalom pou évit zot.
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Interesting insight…
Actually, I seriously wonder where you got those graphics? Are they officially provided by the police?
Anyway, the concept of specialised lanes on the highway is simply bogus based on the statement “Drive left except when overtaking” So, instead of ‘reserving’ an emergency lane on the left side, it would be more sufficient to actually use all available lanes and specify that heavy vehicles are not allowed to overtake others – meaning they have to stay on the most (2) left lane(s) and the third (as well as fourth) lane remain for cars and motorcycles exclusively. In case of emergencies, traffic is on halt anyways and it’s not a big deal for each and everyone to open up a temporarily gap for police, ambulance or fire engines.
The concept of more than two lanes on the highway is too strange to most people driving. Best way to observe that are the long stretches down to the airport (before and after Rose Belle). It is absolutely amusing to see vehicles being agnostic to use the left-most lane despite big signs saying “Drive left except when overtaking”.
Well, old habits don’t die! Therefore current drivers won’t adopt their behaviour to this kind of improvement.
Similar situation for the roundabouts 😉
When a driver decides to turn right at the next roundabout he/she takes the right-most lane even though that the exit is 5+ kilometres away, and so ‘forcing’ other faster drivers to overtake on the left-hand side.
Sad but true…
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Interesting to read and absolutely what you see when you drive at anytime of the day or night (for a good percentage of the drivers).
The pictures? I drew them by myself when I wrote this article. Is it wrong or?
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Hi Yashvin,
About the pictures I honestly don’t know. I’m only questioning their authenticity. If the images are korek, cool – otherwise, I doubt that you’d like to keep them as-is online… 😉
The easiest way might be to either check ‘The Highway Code’, speak to driving school teacher, or get the details from the Line Barracks directly.
Anyway, there are so many other issues where drivers simply don’t know about the road rules and regulations, or consciously ignore them in their favour. Typical case are two lanes approaching a traffic light where one of the lines is ‘reserved’ for turns only but people still go straight in order to jump others. I see it as good as every morning at Mon Desir or at Jumbo Phoenix.
Actually, the government could earn a lot of money at only those two spots every morning.
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A
pprove
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*ashamed*
lol. I remember receiving this comment and approving it but completely forgot replying sorry. I even wrongly approved it.
Coming to the illustration, I personally drew it (on photoshop).
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Yes, you said so already. 😉
Did you take into consideration speaking to someone about the correctness?
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You mean, the correctness of this completely messed up usage of the lanes in the situation described?
No, Never confirmed it with anyone but I’m 200% sure that driving on the emergency lane is completely illegal, even when all of the other lanes are “used up”.
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