Egyptian drivers

We have been in Egypt a month now and have witnessed a lot of the locals driving around from various viewpoints. We've been pedestrians engaged in a high-stakes game of Frogger and taxi passengers steeling ourselves for the negotiation phase of the journey. We've cycled and tried mainly to stay out of the way and ridden on buses (mini, micro & normal) and wondered exactly what, if any, is the maximum capacity of such a vehicle.

For all our travelling, this is what we have discovered.

1) The horn has many uses but the most common are :-
- telling someone who may not see you that you are coming their way
- telling someone who has seen you that you're not stopping
- asking someone who's in your way to move over
- expressing your joy at being able to move freely
- expressing your frustration at not being able to move at all
- advising the person in front that there is a gap in the wall of traffic
- saying 'hello'
- saying 'goodbye'

2) Crossing the road is safe as long as you have your wits about you or when you use a little old lady as a shield.

3) The inside lane on a muli-lane road is reserved for stationary traffic, donkeys & carts, pedestrians, street sweepers and anything out of the ordinary.

4) Headights after dark, when on out of town roads, are used in an intricate ritual which can be difficult to understand at first. Do not be confused or alarmed when the driver turns off his lights as another car approaches, this just enables him to make his vehicle more noticable when he turns them back on. The intermittent flashing that follows this initial greeting seems to be a way of communicating about road conditions and the location of RADAR traps.