I'm actually amazed that there aren't more accidents involving bikes.. I would say 90-95% drive like they are alone on the streets, drive out in an intersection without looking, driving in the wrong lane head-on towards oncoming traffic, zigzagging between cars, trucks etc without even thinking that there might not be enough space... I honestly hate driving however, the alternative is just too cumbersome and expensive living outside of the bigger cities..
Out of curiosity, of all the accidents that happen here, what percentage do you think involve motorcycles?
Although I have never bothered to look for stats, I would assume that motorbike accidents in Santo Domingo are much lower than in other regional areas. Reason being that there is a lot more police on the roads enforcing the laws, especially wearing helmets, lights that actually work and they don't go as fast within the city. In smaller towns and rural areas where there is very little police control then you have a lot more accidents, often fatal. Here in the area of Sosua and Cabarete the majority of accidents involve motorbikes and it is no uncommon for several people to lose their lives every week. A couple of week ago just in the Cabarete area 5 people lost their lives in 3 different motorbike accidents. The same goes for Puerto Plata area, the majority of accidents involve motorbikes. Now I am not saying that those people riding the motorbikes are always at fault, in this area people drive vehicles like they are invincible, and many foreigners are also to blame as they happily forget the rules and regulations they were raised with because nothing is enforced here. So motorbike accidents in this area are higher than in the larger cities because there is much less police control.
