Driving in Morocco

I thought I’d just write a short entry about driving in Morocco.  Many foreigners would be trepidatious about driving in a developing country, but I have to say that driving in Morocco wasn’t bad at all.  Here are a few topics:

-       Quality of the roads – Surprisingly the roads are quite good in general.  The highways are above average I would say, with very few potholes.  The roads in cities were excellent too.  However, I did pass through a few towns with poor roads with big potholes.  There was one village, on my way to Merzouga, where the roads were unpaved and a few huge puddles spanned width of the street.  It was hard to tell how deep they were.  A 10 year-old boy vigorously waved at me and was trying to get me to follow him down a dirt lane to the right.  I ignored him and took my chances with the water, driving along the side of them as best as I could.  He came running back and after I rolled down my window, he told me he would guide me.  There were a few turns down some narrow laneways which caused me to slow down to a crawl to make sure Octi could squeak through.  Once I was safely through, I gave the helpful kid some money for his efforts.

Lanes – Many Moroccans seem to not care about lane delineation and like to straddle the lanes…especially the older drivers.  Unfortunately, Octi’s horn isn’t working so I didn’t have a way to get them to move over so I had to be hypervigilant and patient. 

Lanes...they're just suggestions right?!?

Getting In and Out of Big Cities – This was a big surprise.  I was really concerned about how difficult it was going to be to navigate cities like Tangiers, Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakesh.  The first three were super easy with good thoroughfares getting me in and out with ease.  Marrakesh was a bit of a different story as there was a lot of road construction going on, but I’ve definitely experienced worse.

Speedbumps – Oh boy, watch out for some of these…rarely is there warning of their presence by a sign or stripes painted on them.  I hit a few doozies, although I’d give the speedbump award to Uganda.  I was on a bus ride in that country where I was getting a few inches of airtime off my seat in the back of the bus!

Speed limits – For some reason, all speed limits in Morocco are even numbered – 20, 40, 60, 80, 100.  I never drove in any odd numbered speed limit zones.  I wonder if they’re superstitious.

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Traffic Police – This stood out more than any of the other items I’ve mentioned.  I have never been in a country with so many speed traps!  There were a few speed cameras, but the number of policeman checkpoints, most of which were utilizing radar guns, was stunning.  I may have seen more manned speed traps in Morocco than all the rest of my life combined!  It was not unusual to see between 6-10 of them in one day of 2-3 hours of driving.  They mainly hung out at roundabouts.

  

So, I was very cautious about my speed and kept an eye on it like a hawk…but somehow, I still got a speeding ticket!  I was flagged down by one of the three cops situated just outside a small village.  He asked in French for my driver’s licence and vehicle registration and told me that I was driving 71 km/h in a 60 zone.  I wasn’t sure if I missed the 60 sign as I had been in an 80 zone, or if I just didn’t slow down fast enough.  Thankfully it was only a 150 dirham fine…about $21 CAD.

My speeding ticket.  At least I got a written copy and knew that the money wasn't just going into the cop's pocket.

I was pulled over two other times, but not for speeding.  One time the cop just checked my driver’s licence and then mentioned that one of my two licence plates on the back of Octi was missing a screw, so it was hanging a bit sideways.  I knew that, it had been like that for a few days, but it couldn’t fall off as the loose side was wedged against the door by the ladder. 

 

The other time was kind of funny.  I was pulled over by a couple of motorcycle cops who were parked just outside of the city of Agadir.  I knew that I wasn’t speeding and I didn’t even see them holding a radar gun.  One cop approached Octi as I rolled down the window and he held up his phone which showed a picture of WD-40.  He asked me if I had any, which unfortunately I didn’t.  I gather they had some problem with one of their bikes.  I got a chuckle out of that one!