Bike BetteR
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We’ve been impressed with the ingenuity of the people here and the creative uses of bikes. We’ve also been pleasantly surprised that, unlike in Baton Rouge, the majority of drivers are considerate and polite. They actually “share the road, eh!” and use turn signals! Of course there are impatient and impolite drivers as well, but most slow down and give ample room while passing walkers, bike riders, or a herd of goats. Because of the numbers of people on foot and bike on the roads drivers learn to share the road. I’d like to think this lends support to the argument that the more pedestrians and bike riders on the roads the safer it is.
In the bush, the Maasai, the culture that is most associated with Tanzania, often ride bicycles between villages. There are no bike trails, sidewalks, or roads for that matter.
And bikes are not just for transporting people or goods. On a shady street in town, a row of men sit on the side of the road backwards on their bicycles. As they pedal they sharpen knives, machetes, axes, and more on a grindstone which is attached to the wheel via a belt.