Accident, or, why I am afraid of roads in Colombia

Friday night I left the office & headed straight to the bus terminal to meet Augusto, the neighbor who owns a taxi, who was also traveling to Bogotá, and we boarded a minivan that seats 7 passengers in addition to the driver for the 4+ hour trip. It was 6:00 when we left, and turning dark.

10 minutes into the trip, the driver was asking the passengers a question, and seemingly didn't notice the red light ahead. I considered mentioning that the light had changed, but as he was facing forward, I figured he must see it, and the traffic rules must be different here (this assumption was based on the fact that people go through red lights on a consistent basis in Colombia). With about 5 car-lengths between us and the car stopped at the red light in front of us, the driver noticed the red. He screamed and slammed on the breaks. We skidded into the car in front of us & the car to the right of us, which proceeded to hit the car in front of it. All of the passengers bumped off of the seats in front of them, but everyone was perfectly fine post-crash, if only just a bit shaken...

Wreckage

Alternative view of the wreckage

Skid marks from our failed anti-lock brake system

We waited 30 minutes for the police to show up (despite the fact that we were blocking both of the 2 lanes of a major road in the city), and then another 30 minutes for the replacement van to come and start the journey to Bogotá. When we got into the next car, I asked if the car had working brakes. They all laughed. I wasn't kidding.

We proceeded to drive a bit fast, but I didn't care if I seemed like a silly foreigner, I asked the driver to slow down. But, at last, we made it to Bogotá & I vowed to take a larger bus on the ride back (they can't drive as fast).