Driving while Stupid

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GringoRubio

Bronze
Oct 15, 2015
1,162
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I rented a car and drove to the Haitian border to pick up my girlfriend. It's always an adventure driving, but I was really surprised by how obnoxious the drivers were on the route from Santiago to Puerto Plata over the mountain. There was heavy construction the whole way, but I was being passed up like a dirty shirt and I'm generally a fast driver.

When the flag man, rolled a barrel out to stop traffic, the car in front of me was having none of that and drover over the pylons to continue where he immediately encountered the oncoming single lane traffic.

So, it was with great amusement that I was pulled over for doing 80 in a 60 and being run over in the process. The cop must have had the same challenge as a cheetah with a herd of zebras. My girlfriend immediately sidelined me by saying that I don't speak Spanish and then continued to berate and sweet talk him until the poor guy let us go after 30 minutes.

I've seen some really bad and reckless driving, but Friday afternoon won the prize. And, yes, there are three lanes on a 1.5 lane road. I now have proof.

And, the stupid party? Myself. I'd have been much better off and probably cheaper hiring a taxi. So, a confession, in a way. Please be cautious.

And, wow, those migration folks are thick on the border. > 5 checkpoints and they checked my trunk multiple times (empty). Every guagua was getting the fine comb treatment.
 
D

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
we also were on PP-santiago road, the main one, so to speak. on the way back, in la colarada, we saw an accident. there is a piece of the road where one lane slid down the mountain, years ago now. there is a by-pass cut into the side of the other lane but the road surface is bad, no one slows down, very dangerous section.

an N20 smashed right into the cement barriers there. there were at least 3 people in the car: a panicking woman, a shocked teen in the back who got out and wandered about and the driver who was trapped inside. we called MOPC and stopped passing patrol that we saw when still on call. within maybe 2 minutes an ambulance from maimon passed us on the way to the scene. at least the first response here works quite well, all things considered.

that was a second accident of the day since going out of costambar we saw a jeep that must have hit a moto. AMET and 911 unit were already there.
 
melphis

melphis

Living my Dream
Apr 18, 2013
3,496
1,681
113
I agree. We can't let the idiots win. This year we went from the PC area to STQ 3 times, Jarabacoa once, Miches 3 times and a few other trips. We try to stay off the roads on Sunday evenings and during all our road trips this year we didn't see a single accident.
I guess we were lucky for that.
 
L

LTSteve

Gold
Jul 9, 2010
5,449
23
38
GringoRubio said:
I rented a car and drove to the Haitian border to pick up my girlfriend. It's always an adventure driving, but I was really surprised by how obnoxious the drivers were on the route from Santiago to Puerto Plata over the mountain. There was heavy construction the whole way, but I was being passed up like a dirty shirt and I'm generally a fast driver.

When the flag man, rolled a barrel out to stop traffic, the car in front of me was having none of that and drover over the pylons to continue where he immediately encountered the oncoming single lane traffic.

So, it was with great amusement that I was pulled over for doing 80 in a 60 and being run over in the process. The cop must have had the same challenge as a cheetah with a herd of zebras. My girlfriend immediately sidelined me by saying that I don't speak Spanish and then continued to berate and sweet talk him until the poor guy let us go after 30 minutes.

I've seen some really bad and reckless driving, but Friday afternoon won the prize. And, yes, there are three lanes on a 1.5 lane road. I now have proof.

And, the stupid party? Myself. I'd have been much better off and probably cheaper hiring a taxi. So, a confession, in a way. Please be cautious.

And, wow, those migration folks are thick on the border. > 5 checkpoints and they checked my trunk multiple times (empty). Every guagua was getting the fine comb treatment.
Click to expand...

It is universal. Drivers in the US are no different, although Dominicans are some of the worst I've seen. They have no concept of courtesy or right of way. They use there horn instead of directional signals or brakes and many drive without regard to road conditions. You have to remember that on DR roads the biggest vehicle seems to have the right of way and be damned if you don't get out of the way. Buenos suarte y via con dios!
 
W

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
42,211
5,969
113
LTSteve said:
It is universal. Drivers in the US are no different, although Dominicans are some of the worst I've seen. They have no concept of courtesy or right of way. They use there horn instead of directional signals or brakes and many drive without regard to road conditions. You have to remember that on DR roads the biggest vehicle seems to have the right of way and be damned if you don't get out of the way. Buenos suarte y via con dios!
Click to expand...

After driving about 500,000 miles in the US and now driving about 150,000 in the DR, there is no comparison on the quality of driving between the US and the DR. Only the people from New Jersey driving on the Northway in NY or the people from Asia driving on the highways in northern California come even remotely close to the ignorance found here.
 
bob saunders

bob saunders

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
32,549
5,961
113
dr1.com
I have driven in Cyprus, Egypt, Somalia, Ethiopia, Costa Rica, Germany, Canada, the USA, and the DR. To me the DR is a piece of cake after Egypt. I do feel like mowing down a few motos after they pass and turn left in front of me in an intersection when I'm going straight and tailgaters here are no different than anywhere else, just let them pass you as soon as possible. The drive up the twisting road to Jarabacoa wherre they pass on blind corners...etc is enough to take years of your life if you get upset about it.
 
beeza

beeza

Silver
Nov 2, 2006
3,480
732
113
bob saunders said:
I have driven in Cyprus, Egypt, Somalia, Ethiopia, Costa Rica, Germany, Canada, the USA, and the DR. To me the DR is a piece of cake after Egypt. I do feel like mowing down a few motos after they pass and turn left in front of me in an intersection when I'm going straight and tailgaters here are no different than anywhere else, just let them pass you as soon as possible. The drive up the twisting road to Jarabacoa wherre they pass on blind corners...etc is enough to take years of your life if you get upset about it.
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You're absolutely right.  Those that say that the DR has the world's worst drivers, simply haven't travelled enough.

Here you can get angry with the locals and shout and swear at them.  Try doing that in Qatar for example.  You go to prison for that!

There are a lot of motorcycles in the DR and the majority of riders do not posses a licence or have any education as to the rules of the road.  Go to Indonesia and you will find that the motorcycle scene is FAR worse than here.

Cars are expensive here.  And for good reason.  Recently the import taxes of new and used vehicles were reduced drastically in Kenya.  The result?  All those of lower incomes suddenly found that they could afford a car.  The road system in Kenya is now in chaos and all the big cities are gridlocked.
 
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josh2203

Bronze
Dec 5, 2013
1,600
545
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beeza said:
Cars are expensive here.  And for good reason.  Recently the import taxes of new and used vehicles were reduced drastically in Kenya.  The result?  All those of lower incomes suddenly found that they could afford a car.  The road system in Kenya is now in chaos and all the big cities are gridlocked.
Click to expand...

That's an excellent point. I'd think that lower vehicle pricing would better work if the mindset of people would be different, in the sense that owning/driving a car to everywhere is not a "must". Take Germany, the vehicle pricing is a fraction of that in there, but even people in very high positions have no problem using public transport (trains/buses/trams) there. I've worked in a few companies there, and in one of them, my bosses boss (to whom my supervisor reported), only used an older bicycle between work and home... Why? Because he wanted to keep fit and enjoyed driving a bicycle. I enjoy too. Would that happen in the DR or other Latin American countries? I doubt it. Vehicle is also a status symbol.

I can fully imagine what beeza describes happening in the DR, as it's important for everyone to "have" a car, even if they would have absolutely no serious use for it daily or even weekly...
 
bienamor

bienamor

Kansas redneck an proud of it
Apr 23, 2004
5,050
458
83
We had a guy at work here who owned what we called a radio con carro. radio was in much better shape than the car it was in.
 
W

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,330
113
hahaha

we have a guy up the hill...

even the Dominicans say -
Have you seen his car??......in disbelief that runs
 
U

USA DOC

Bronze
Feb 20, 2016
3,174
764
113
.....after driving many places in the world...the DR is near the top for worst drivers, at the top of my list, Africa..Nigeria to be exact....for people who can afford it ,bullet proof jeepeta with armed driver as kidnapping is very common...........Doc.......
 
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JasonD

Bronze
Feb 10, 2018
1,009
2
38
windeguy said:
After driving about 500,000 miles in the US and now driving about 150,000 in the DR, there is no comparison on the quality of driving between the US and the DR. Only the people from New Jersey driving on the Northway in NY or the people from Asia driving on the highways in northern California come even remotely close to the ignorance found here.
Click to expand...

Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua come close but if you've noticed, the accident ratio are so low compared to the way driving is done. Its crazy to think that with the craziness going on, much more death and accidents would take place?
 
chico bill

chico bill

Dogs Better than People
May 6, 2016
12,613
6,363
113
LTSteve said:
It is universal. Drivers in the US are no different, although Dominicans are some of the worst I've seen. They have no concept of courtesy or right of way. They use there horn instead of directional signals or brakes and many drive without regard to road conditions. You have to remember that on DR roads the biggest vehicle seems to have the right of way and be damned if you don't get out of the way. Buenos suarte y via con dios!
Click to expand...

With the exception of South Florida (rude and many untrained mmigrant drivers) and NJ & NY most US drivers are courteous. Factor out those that are young (less than 22) and some that are DWA (some will know) the US is a cakewalk compared to DR.
 
G

GringoRubio

Bronze
Oct 15, 2015
1,162
116
63
I bought a dash cam. Some of these moves are too outrageous to describe in words.

btw, I live most of the time in South Florida now. The driving is immediately recognizable, so upped my defensive game a bit.

The funniest thing that I've seen so far is the dude that just stopped in an express lane to close up his convertible. There was a free emergency lane off to the left, but he couldn't be bothered.
 
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dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
we have dash cams in both our cars. miesposo is getting another set that will face back. i could never be bothered to save day-to-day dominican driving but they may be useful in case of accidents. or so i hope.
 
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