CIRCULATION ROUTIÈRE: Driving in Mauritius isn't for the faint-hearted, a écrit Le Daily Telegraph
Sous la plume de Nicki Grihault, les qualités touristiques de l'île sont vantées, sauf la conduite et la pauvre qualité des panneaux indicateurs
Les problèmes de circulation routière à Maurice sont loin de passer inaperçus ailleurs. Le Daily Telegraph, quotidien britannique qu'on ne présente plus, a épinglé Maurice en la matière dans un Travel Feature rédigé par leur Destination Expert, Nicki Grihault. Celle-ci est d'avis que "driving in Mauritius isn't for the faint-hearted. Roads often have no pavements, so people and dogs step in your way". Et de conclure: "Mauritian driving is erratic." Difficile de faire plus explicite. Cependant, l'article de Nicki Grihault vante les mérites de notre île pour sa faune et sa flore luxuriantes, la gentillesse des Mauriciens et le dépaysement garanti qu'offre notre destination.
Sous l'intitulé "getting around", figurant en bonne place du Mauritius Travel Guide du Daily Telegraph, le pays en prend pour son grade en ce qu'il s'agit de la conduite, qui est loin d'être de tout repos chez nous. Nicki Grihault explique qu'en dépit de la petite superficie de l'île, qui fait 45 kilomètres par 65 kilomètres, "travelling here takes time". Elle précise: "One to two-hour drives between your hotel and the attractions are not uncommon, as apart from one major highway which snakes from the airport to Grand Baie in the north, roads are generally narrow."
De ce fait, elle encourage les visiteurs à Maurice d'éviter une exploration stressante du pays en visitant une région à la fois ou de laisser l'intérêt ou un thème particulier de dicter le choix du visiteur. L'auteure fait ressortir que les autobus voyagent partout à travers le pays, hormis Plaine-Champagne, mais que "travelling this way is time-consuming". Avant d'enfoncer le clou en ces termes, épinglant au passage le manque de trottoirs au bord des routes: "Self-drive is a popular, safe and flexible way to tour the island. Driving is British-style, on the left. That said, driving in Mauritius isn't for the faint-hearted. Roads often have no pavements, so people and dogs step in your way."
Nicki Grihault acquiesce néanmoins: des améliorations sont entreprises en ce qu'il s'agit des panneaux indicateurs, avant de rajouter une nouvelle couche concernant la conduite chez nous. "Although improving, towns and attractions are poorly signposted and Mauritian driving is erratic."
Qui est Nicki Grihault? D'après le guide publié par le Daily Telegraph, Nicki Grihault avait visité Maurice pour la première fois pendant son adolescence. Elle a 15 ans d'expérience dans le domaine du Travel Writing et a alors fait de Maurice un "specialist country". Auteure d'un livre au sujet de son domaine de prédilection, elle est aussi identifiée par le Daily Telegraph comme étant la fille d'Alan Grihault, qui était un présentateur TV à Maurice et un expert en ce qu'il s'agit du dodo.
Le Travel Feature du Daily Telegraph peut être lu à l'URL suivant:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destination/mauritius/56370/Mauritius-travel-guide.html
Comments
Bonjour,
Après un séjour de 15 jours a Maurice, je confirme la circulation est parfois difficile, le manque de trottoirs est évident.
Mais l'accueil et la gentillesse des Mauriciens est exceptionnel.
Je reviens dès que possible.
Cordialement
Mauritius - A place for real man
L'auteur doit aussi mentionner que les automobilistes et motocyclistes se garent comme bon leur semble. Ils n'ont aucun gêne à s'approprier de l'espace des autres. Moi j'habite près d'un supermarché à la route St Paul, je peux vous dire que les chauffeurs mauriciens ne manquent pas d'audace en se garant carrément devant votre entrée et se permettant même de vous menacer et insulter. La faute doit aussi être attribuée à ces collectivités locales qui donnent les permis de façon occulte, de façon louche. C'est eux les plus grands coupables de ce méga-bord€l.
À Maurice il y a un sévère manque de supermarchés c'est pour cela que les c.locales accordent le permis aux promoteurs.(ironie)
You all hit the nail on the coffin. Mauritius has deteriorated significantly and the selfishness that resides in our society is unbelievable. Blame it on materialism, blame it on a money-driven society, it is so easy to point the finger but in my view we are all to blame for such decadence of our island. I still call Mauritius home and would love to see the paradise I grew up in. Where the roads were safe and the neighbourhoods were secured to the point you can leave your house with doors wide open with no worries in the world. Last week itself there were 4 murders quoted in this newspaper. That’s was the headline. I don’t want to go into the “Fait Divers” where there were sodomy, adultery, rape and corruption.
Credit given to Nicki Grihault at least she still sees the good in Mauritius and may be that’s because at the end of her holidays she doesn’t need to stay. Living abroad where we are blessed with the nice infrastructures, secure job and good social standard, I can see how easily we can criticize of how bad and the needs of change Mauritius has to adopt. But the truth is, each country has their own issues. What I proposed is instead of being on a high horse and venting on the net how bad Mauritius is - How about we do something about it? How about we start taking responsibility of our action? How about we stop the mentality of who we know and instead based it on meritocracy? How about we go for a fair government who doesn’t jump ship for the sake of winning (dreams)? I suggest a forum with ideas on how to improve Mauritius, where no idea is stupid and the best/consensus idea is implemented (Dreams).
Anyway apparently nowadays the net is a perfect place to start a revolution. Well my vote is for a peaceful one to make Mauritius a better place. Not for us alone but for the future of generations to come.
ohh well i do agree the roads lack loads of signs and proper ones..well bt the uk is no better...the uk lacks signs especially when a single road continues and splits into 3-4 lanes and there's no where it's indicated that such things are ahead...u guys talking of narrow roads? hahaha i should laugh on that...sry my dear britain...ur roads are the most narrow road i've ever seen in my life....if 2 lorries were to cross...well ull be having like less than 2-3 inches between them...well sry for that but u r not even allowed to say anything on road narrowing...i've been driving in london for the past 3 years and yeah plz dnt come and tell mauritians that their roads are narrow.... and btw we got better rules on parking as to one can park only in the direction as the traffic is going and not on the reverse.... well it's similar to france who got amazingly nice roads...well i do agree u got nice signs telling where to go or where not to go...but look at the state of ur road markings....britain road markings suck... it's faint small lines that u cannot even see at night properly... even ur motorway is no way better than that of mauritius as in the smoothness of it....u got load of bumps on the m20 for example or the m25 and never were these stuff sorted...if u really want examples on good roads...look at the way AUSTRALIAN ROADS ARE DESIGNED....they were designed in such way that the visibility ahead is always of at least 200 metres....and uk is nowhere near that even though u apparently spend billions of pounds on them....
well i do agree u got better layout though..u got a better planned roads as in pavements for pedestrians and all these disabled facilities...but for a country like the UK with so much economic resources...the uk sucks in these terms....even france with lower resources got better roads than the uk...seriously... but i can say that for a developing country ..mauritius is evolving very quickly and i can say by 2020 around...we'll be much ahead of u BRITISH :D sry for that...bt it's the new trend...land of gold is no more...it's a land of old now...coz anyway u never had gold...and yeah to finish it...
ha! si zot guetté coment dimoune roulé dans lafrique du nord ki zot pou dir??? ( roule lor trotoire; lor rail ; dans no entry ; lor lipié dimoune; etc....;)
Oui mais justement, nous ne sommes pas en Afrique. Nous on est le tigre de l'Océan Indien.
Living in Mauritius isn't a piece of cake either.
I think, to be quite honest, the author of that article really has put it very mildly indeed! Driving in Mauritius is not just erratic, but a lot of drivers have no discipline at all and have no sense of discipline on the roads and no respect for each other. This is the result of years of giving driving licenses easily at the place we all know of ! Congratulations to them ! And when a lot of accidents happen including many deaths and many victims, people are surprised ! I am not.
Difficile de comprendre comment les étrangers disent tous que les mauriciens sont gentils. En tout cas, pas entre eux mêmes.
The report I believe is true and reflects reality.We have a cocktail of pedestrians, buses, bicycles,and countless mopeds,sharing a narrow strip of road,with specal guests strayed dogs.When its not marsan briani occupying partially the road with permission, from our dear (palsing) elected parliamentary member of Quatre Bornes.Cars are not driven by petrol,but by tooting horns all the way through.,some dtivers makes it a point to give the one finger salute to any one whose vehicle is obeying te speed limit.
An article for Mr Anil Baichoo to read aloud in Parliament,in the presence of his visionary PM!Although most of the toad network of Mauritius is of colonial inheritance,no improvement has been tried,by subsequent governments in terms of pavements!
Mauritius is an island of road warriors and corrupt officials. Anybody can get a driving license in Mauritius including a monkey, you just have to bride the sergeant at the testing centre. This is a joke the author “vante les mérites de notre île pour sa faune et sa flore luxuriantes, la gentillesse des Mauriciens " WTF obviously she has not been in the bidonvilles of Cité la Cure and other Cités in Mauritius. The majority of the people of Mauritius live below the poverty line. Mauritius might be nice to tourists but when it comes to other fellow Mauritian ....chacun so montagne.
From a non-driver
It is true that some Mauritian drivers are rather erratic, the number of fatal accidents tends to support this. However driving in Mauritius is no more difficult or more dangerous than driving on the M25 and some of the notorious roads in the UK. My wife (who is English) has never had any problems driving in Mauritius and on the whole we have found that most of the drivers in Mauritius are courteous and will allow cars through. When I say most drivers, this is due to the fact we have observed that those who drive nice big expensive cars are not so courteous. The main problem is of course getting to Port-Louis and a few other areas can be a nightmare during rush hours but it can be as bad in big UK cities.
From a non-driver
It is true that some Mauritian drivers are rather erratic, the number of fatal accident tends to support this. However driving in Mauritius is not more difficult or more dangerous than driving on the M25 and some of the notorious roads in the UK. My wife (who is English) has never had any problems driving in Mauritius and on the whole we have found that most of the drivers in Mauritius are courteous and will allow cars through. When I say most drivers I should perhaps say that those who drive nice big expensive cars are not so courteous. The main problem is of course getting to Port-Louis and a few other areas can be a nightmare during rush hours.