In yesterday's post I asked a question about the direction in which I was taking the photo. Trust an engineer to work it out first - although I guess it would be fair to mention that Duncan knows this particular road pretty well. :)
So yes to all of you who agreed; from this shot (taken a little further on) you can easily deduce that yesterday's photo was indeed taken in reverse. While the reason Duncan gave was correct, it's not the reason I was probing for - read on.
South Africa has a few large roads that carry traffic in one direction only. If the line on the road (in yesterday's photo) were white then this road would be one of these roads (carrying traffic in one direction only) and I would have been taking the photos facing forwards.
If you're ever driving in South Africa and find that darkness or fog prevents you from seeing too much, take note of the solid lines on the left and right of your vehicle - left should be yellow, right should be white... if that's not the case, pull off the road really fast!
Surprisingly, this does happen - I once experienced two such incidents in a single day. Leave a message if you're interested in reading the story and I'll add it as a comment.
Abraham Lincoln
Nice photograph. I like the idea of bikes sharing the road with traffic.
I still have the old blogs but I also have new ones Abe Lincoln Blogs and also look at Abraham Lincoln’s Blog
Paul
@Duncan: Yes, that’s one of the stretches of road I was thinking of. If memory serves me correctly it certainly does have a white line on the right. Check it next time you drive that way though… and if it’s yellow, get off the road, wake Donne up, and put in those contact lenses. :P
I do agree – overtaking while shooting photos sounds far more exciting – perhaps I should have stuck with that story. :)
Duncan Drennan
Now you’ve got me thinking….where Sir Lowry’s pass begins (on the way to Cape Town, just past the Hermanus turn off) the road splits into two for a while, only carrying traffic in a single direction with two lanes. Is there a white line on the right hand side of that part of the road?
I still preferred the idea of you crossing over two lanes and taking a photo out the driver side at high speed while avoiding oncoming traffic….
Nixgrim
I remember the first time I actually ‘realised’ that fact. I’m sure it’s covered in the K53 driver’s code thing, but I can’t rememvber ever learning it. I guess I must have been driving for at least 5 years, maybe more, when one day, while driving off the N2 on an off-ramp I used EVERY day, that I suddenly noticed the different coloured stripes and wondered at them. It took me several minutes to work it out, but it’s stuck with me ever since (I’ve been driving for 25 years now) – and been a life saver on dark nights or in poor visibility. Just goes to show – knowledge learnt first hand stays with you much longer than knowledge learnt from a textbook.