“A special type of hand-to-eye coordination needed in a mechanized
society is not required in an agricultural-pastoral milieu. …Watching a
villager or tribesman crossing Kabul’s increasingly crowded streets illustrates
this. His peripheral vision tells the villager something moves toward him, but
his cultural experience leads him to expect a slow-moving camel or donkey, or
possibly a fast-moving horse. Unfortunately, in Kabul, it would probably be an
automobile. The villager will take an extra step or two, actually looking at
the car, but not reacting. Many accidents occur in this way. In addition,
self-trained Afghan motorists often have difficulty in judging time-motion
ratios.”
Louis Dupree, “Afghanistan,” 1973
Top and bottom: Afoot in Kabul traffic, January 2007.
Middle: Evening rush hour, summer 2005
(Photos: Jim Chiavelli)
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