accident involving caribe tours bus

Kipling333

Bronze
Jan 12, 2010
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The truck drivers and the bus drivers in this country are a law unto themselves.They have absolutely no respect for car drivers nand often push cars to the dirt edges of roads to get past. Sorry for the victims and their families and I suppose my number will come up one day on these Dominican hell roads
 
Aug 6, 2006
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I noticed the last time I took the Caribetours bus from Barahona to Sto. Domingo that it had seatbelts, and a guy in camo who I suppose is with the EN or the PN riding shotgun. The bus went pretty fast, but I did not notice the driver taking any chances. Very comfy Marco Polo bus that looked brand new.
 

josh2203

Bronze
Dec 5, 2013
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I have taken Caribe Tours once, about 4 years ago, that was enough. That was from POP to STI, the driver drove very fast, keeping the accelerator in the floor (it was easy to hear the engine running), with a slight scent of diesel fumes inside...

While driving (not on a bus), especially between POP-Navarrete, we have seen plenty of "professional" drivers, and mostly the color of the these buses is bright yellow. While passing other vehicles with full bus loads, I have seen many times unbelievable driving.

Whenever we need to take a bus in the country, it?s Metro, I could be wrong (no references nor stats), but I think Metro is in the news much less, and I actually feel safe on those buses. Sure, they don?t have as much service in terms of frequent departures, but we have learned to plan our trips accordingly.

I still recall the accident from couple of years back, when Caribe Tours went out of road on Duarte Highway, they posted an image of the bus crashed in forest... I have not yet seen similar news about other bus companies here.
 

FredBlogs

New member
Jun 18, 2009
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A Dominican will wait in line at the doctors, supermarket, Edenorte, Telecable PP, Western Union etc., etc., for ever but put them behind the wheel of a vehicle and their patience disappears, they have to be first in line, the fastest, the most macho and from that dangerous manoeuvers, serious injury and death result.

This will never be addressed until formal driver training is introduced and we all know that will never happen!
 

Mountaintrout

New member
Feb 9, 2013
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A Dominican will wait in line at the doctors, supermarket, Edenorte, Telecable PP, Western Union etc., etc., for ever but put them behind the wheel of a vehicle and their patience disappears, they have to be first in line, the fastest, the most macho and from that dangerous manoeuvers, serious injury and death result.

This will never be addressed until formal driver training is introduced and we all know that will never happen!


Amen!
 

Expat13

Silver
Jun 7, 2008
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A Dominican will wait in line at the doctors, supermarket, Edenorte, Telecable PP, Western Union etc., etc., for ever but put them behind the wheel of a vehicle and their patience disappears, they have to be first in line, the fastest, the most macho and from that dangerous manoeuvers, serious injury and death result.

This will never be addressed until formal driver training is introduced and we all know that will never happen!

Or accountability for their crimes. Manslaughter at minimum death penalty in other cases. That might ignite a few of those remaining brain cells.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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i travel with caribe when metro is not available (full or long wait). about 4 years ago we crashed into a truck in front of us. minor damage, thou. last time i used them few months ago. i felt briefly inspired to use a seat belt and as i dug into the space between seats a cucaracha run from the gap and looked at me disapprovingly before hiding again. i clutched my ass for the rest of the ride.

anyways, diario libre reports 5 deaths and 29 injured: Al menos cinco muertos y unos 29 heridos por triple choque en Ban? - DiarioLibre.com

las calientes reports 6 deaths: EN BAN?; Al menos 6 muertos y heridos en accidente entre cami?n y autob?s de Caribe Tours de San Juan : LASCALIENTESDELSUR.NET

caribe also had an accident last month when one of their buses plastered some dude on the moto.

the accident mentioned by josh might have been this one:
Un muerto y 7 heridos en accidente de autob?s de Caribe Tours en carretera Jarabacoa-La Vega | Noticias SIN

[video=youtube;s0fUwtOHinQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0fUwtOHinQ[/video]
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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photos from the scene:

54yuj7.jpg


sl7ng1.jpg
 
Feb 7, 2007
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In any under country a bus company with so many accidents would be under investigation by the department/ministry of transportation and on the brink of their common carrier license being revoked.
 

bob saunders

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
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dr1.com
From the pictures it looks like the bus was hit, nit doing the hitting, however the reports don't specify. I have taken Caribe Express many times from Jarabacoa to SD and never felt threatened, I don't mind driving to SD , because I have free parking near the Caribe Tours Bus station and then get a relative that's a taxi Driver to take us around.
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
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A Dominican will wait in line at the doctors, supermarket, Edenorte, Telecable PP, Western Union etc., etc., for ever but put them behind the wheel of a vehicle and their patience disappears, they have to be first in line, the fastest, the most macho and from that dangerous manoeuvers, serious injury and death result.

This will never be addressed until formal driver training is introduced and we all know that will never happen!

FredBlogs, you hit the nail squarely on the head. Dominicans do not have the patience required to operate motor vehicles. there is some intrinsic quality which dictates to them that it is obligatory to overtake anything in front of them. it is cultural. a guy will take the greatest risk, endangering his life, and the lives of bystanders, in order to overtake, then stop 10 yards later.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
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From the pictures it looks like the bus was hit, nit doing the hitting, however the reports don't specify.

apparently it was the driver of a pickup who provoked the accident trying to overtake caribe bus. he was allegedly drunk too.
more details here: Al menos cinco muertos y unos 29 heridos por triple choque en Ban? - DiarioLibre.com
Supuestamente el conductor de la camioneta trat? de rebasar al autob?s por lo que el cami?n que ven?a en direcci?n opuesta trat? de esquivarlo encontr?ndose de frente los tres veh?culos.
Se presume que el chofer de la camioneta iba ebrio, ya que se le vio hacer varios "zig - zags" previo al choque.
 

LTSteve

Gold
Jul 9, 2010
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The biggest vehicle has the right of way on the DR highways and trucks seem to be the worse for letting you know this.
 

PJT

Silver
Jan 8, 2002
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Why speed ?

A Dominican will wait in line at the doctors, supermarket, Edenorte, Telecable PP, Western Union etc., etc., for ever but put them behind the wheel of a vehicle and their patience disappears, they have to be first in line, the fastest, the most macho and from that dangerous manoeuvers, serious injury and death result.

This will never be addressed until formal driver training is introduced and we all know that will never happen!

This has always been a head scratcher for PJT. Dominicans plan to arrive late almost for every function, a behavior of self importance, the fiesta does not start until "they" arrive. Yet, they will drive exceedingly fast to arrive late. So ! Why speed if you know you are going to be late anyway ?


Regards,


PJT