First of all if you have lived in a major city or suburban area in North America than driving in the DR is not a big adjustment. The difference in the DR is that many times people do not follow the traffic rules or patterns. There is very little courtesy shown to other drivers and none to pedestrians. For the most part Dominicans were not taught to be good drivers and most are not. They use the brake to control their speed, when it should be the gas peddel. Speed limits? Right of ways? Que Esta? If you drive in the DR you need to drive defensively and have eyes in the back of your head. Gringos are not use to dealing with so many small motor bikes and scooters. This is the biggest adjustment. They are sometimes hard to see and they think you always see them. Having said alll that if you are unfortunate to be involved in an accident in the DR pray to god that it was not your fault or that you have witnesses as to what went down. Many times it's a he said, she said proposition. If there is injury involved, regardless of who's fault it was, you will have to go to the police station. From there most anything can happen. Make sure you have the phone number of a good lawyer in your pocket along with your cell phone. You may have to fork over some pesos to set the whole thing right. The other thing you are up against in the DR is that if you have an accident involving damage to your or their vehicle they might not have insurance or enough coverage to make it right. I drove all over the country from little towns to SD and fortunately never had a problem. When driving in the DR it sometimes seems that you are in a real time video game and you need to get from point A to B without a problem. Like I said, you literally need eyes in the back of your head and very good periferal vision. If you are one of these people that have tunnel vision and are so worried about driving you will not have a good experience. Don't even get me started on driving at night. That is a whole nother ballgame. If driving in the DR exceeds your comfort level than don't do it. Hire a car and driver, a moto or take public transportation. You will be happy that you did.