"Trafikaos" by Eric

When you drive in Lima you learn the real meaning of the word dangerous and sometimes driving in Peru is like extreme sport, but often quite a risky adventure.
Driving in Peru, and particularly in Lima is a real challenge. The roads and the vehicles are poorly maintained to start with. Furthermore, many drivers have unsafe driving habits. For example they ignore the rules of the road or do not consideration for others. Because of this there are many accidents causing injury of even death, which happen all the time.
As the traffic lights are often not respected police women are controlling the speed limit and charge fines. The speed limit in the city is up to 80km/h and up to 100km/h in the motorway. In past times policeman were controlling speed limits, but this has changed because research findings by specialists on traffic showed that policewomen are less corrupted or not corrupted at all. But sadly a high percentage of these women are killed in accidents. This happen particularly by people,  who are driving under the influence of alcohol.
As in Lima the traffic is often congested or there are traffic jams, it is always a good idea to avoid the peak times from 7.00 to 9.00 in the morning and 6.00 to 7.30 at night.
As I did not drive myself by a car in Lima, I used taxis. This saved me from the stress of dealing with the chaos of the traffic (which is actually called by Peruvian “trafikaos”) and finding a parking place. However, as taxis do not have meters, the prices must be fixed in advance. Finally, to ride a bike is not really an alternative, since pollution can make you sick easily.