Driving -- Again

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,329
113
Twice in the past week, I have the identical fright..
thinking about it, I now remember that it can happen often.
But getting so close twice in a week really imprinted it in my feeble head.

Turning left....

In both cases to reach the destination I needed to cross over a double 'no passing' line... no rebase.

That doesn't preclude you from turning into a driveway...
just for passing/overtaking other vehicles.

In both cases, I put on the left turn indicator.... click, click, click

Twice, the car behind passed before I had a chance to turn.
Once in Cabarete, and just now in Cabrera

Today was a mild miss..... passing car swooshed by me well before my turn but still startled me.

Last Tuesday in Cabarete, was way too close.

The car passed at the last minute and had to swerve further left to avoid hitting me.
Unluckily, a pedestrian was walking alongside the opposing lane towards us.

He barely missed being killed or maimed.

The passing driver had words with him and then followed me into the driveway (to which I had turned)

A German (apologies to those countrymen)... he was belligerent from the start.
Started to instruct me that the double solid lines meant that I couldn't cross them.
Says he who had crossed them to pass me... clearly out of bounds!!

I gave him my opinion about the double line in no uncertain words.....
which were opposed to his thinking.

We got nowhere , but there was no damage/harm done.... luckily.

You need to be so careful
I have my mirrors adjusted to avoid side blind spots on both sides.... but whew !!
this was close.

Just reporting what happened and , as I said, I now remember having this 'sneaky quick pass' before a left turn a few times before.

Either ignorance or disregard for the rules of the road - IMO.
 

KateP

Silver
May 28, 2004
2,845
6
38
They dont know the reasons for the lines here. Just decorative...

Sent from my BLN-L24 using Tapatalk
 

2dlight

Bronze
Jun 3, 2004
970
36
28
WW: this is the first time in my life, since I was sixteen, that I've not driven nor had a car, nor any ntention of having one. After having some words and confrontations with drivers here, while a pedestrian just trying to cross the street safely, I've come to realize that the road rage that one sometimes seamlessly adopts while driving Southern California highways, is not conducive to a long and prosperous driving experience here. I might mellow out a bit and reconsider, but, I don't see it anytime soon.
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,329
113
KateP
oftentimes you're right..
but our German friend tried to educate about the stripes.... wrongly

The Dominicans pay little attention to any rules of the road..
turns, speed, courtesy....long list

Every driver for himself...
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,097
6,247
113
South Coast
Coincidentally, Mr AE and I had the painted lines discussion yesterday, coming home from delivering baseball equipment to two towns.  He says most Dominicans are clueless as to the meanings of the different lines. 

We live near a major cement factory (Domicen), so always huge trucks on the beach road. They regularly cross double lines, especially on curves. Last week, a massive truck carrying, we were later told, 1,000 bags of cement, took a turn near our corner too fast and rolled over on its side. We saw the wreck not long after it happened, and as we inched past it all we saw were Dominicans and Haitians filling bags of all types and sizes with cement. They hit the lottery. 
 

GringoRubio

Bronze
Oct 15, 2015
1,162
116
63
Twice in the past week, I have the identical fright..
thinking about it, I now remember that it can happen often.
But getting so close twice in a week really imprinted it in my feeble head.

Turning left....

In both cases to reach the destination I needed to cross over a double 'no passing' line... no rebase.

That doesn't preclude you from turning into a driveway...
just for passing/overtaking other vehicles.

In both cases, I put on the left turn indicator.... click, click, click

Twice, the car behind passed before I had a chance to turn.
Once in Cabarete, and just now in Cabrera

Today was a mild miss..... passing car swooshed by me well before my turn but still startled me.

Last Tuesday in Cabarete, was way too close.

The car passed at the last minute and had to swerve further left to avoid hitting me.
Unluckily, a pedestrian was walking alongside the opposing lane towards us.

He barely missed being killed or maimed.

The passing driver had words with him and then followed me into the driveway (to which I had turned)

A German (apologies to those countrymen)... he was belligerent from the start.
Started to instruct me that the double solid lines meant that I couldn't cross them.
Says he who had crossed them to pass me... clearly out of bounds!!

I gave him my opinion about the double line in no uncertain words.....
which were opposed to his thinking.

We got nowhere , but there was no damage/harm done.... luckily.

You need to be so careful
I have my mirrors adjusted to avoid side blind spots on both sides.... but whew !!
this was close.

Just reporting what happened and , as I said, I now remember having this 'sneaky quick pass' before a left turn a few times before.

Either ignorance or disregard for the rules of the road - IMO.

You're second guessing yourself and heading into the downward spiral of self doubt. That might be a good thing in North America and/or Europe to stand down, retrench and pay more attention to the rules of the road. However, in a country without rules, it can be deadly.

I've seen this before where somebody just kept getting more cautious and before I knew it, they were nearly killed. They got smart and parked their car after that. It's cheaper to have a driver with a car anyways.

I respectfully recommend that you get your mojo back and get back in the game. Close your eyes and drive like everybody else. Or, hang it up (at least for a while).
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,329
113
Rubio
I can push with the best of them ... to the chagrin of my pasajeros !!

It's just that two close calls so close together reminded me of the recklessness here.

Stupid is as stupid does.... Tom Hanks movie I think

I haven't lost my nerve... yet.

and yes, thank you... I have a very good driver...
 
May 8, 2009
124
6
0
I had a person slam into the left side of my truck as I turned left into a driveway and as they were passing; with my blinker on. I always look in my mirror and over the shoulder now. He had no license, no papers for the motorcycle, no helmet, no insurance. Amet did nothing, and I saw him the following day blow through a stop sign. This is the wild Wild West. You are on your own and can expect nothing with regards to reimbursement from the guilty party.
 

Matilda

RIP Lindsay
Sep 13, 2006
5,485
338
63
Whenever my Dominican husband wants to turn left, he doesn't put his blinker on and move into the middle of the road. He stops. Waits till nothing is behind or coming in the opposite direction, then turns left. I told him he was doing it wrong. But hey ho methinks he does it the right "Dominican" way!

Matilda
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,329
113
Whenever my Dominican husband wants to turn left, he doesn't put his blinker on and move into the middle of the road. He stops. Waits till nothing is behind or coming in the opposite direction, then turns left. I told him he was doing it wrong. But hey ho methinks he does it the right "Dominican" way!

Matilda

yup -- and I bet he checks the right hand side too

Those moto boys are ambidextrous
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
5,545
1,327
113
Whenever my Dominican husband wants to turn left, he doesn't put his blinker on and move into the middle of the road. He stops. Waits till nothing is behind or coming in the opposite direction, then turns left. I told him he was doing it wrong. But hey ho methinks he does it the right "Dominican" way!

Matilda

I go even futher than that !!!

If I am on a main/ good road ( ie, where people can drive fast-ish ), and if there is oncoming traffic and/or cars behind me, I will not turn left.
I wont even consider putting my blinkers " on left ".
What I do is turn right ( if possible, ..... i have a specific turnoff in mind, while writing this ), and then I ll cross the road to end up on the road I originally wanted to be on. ( the left turn off the main road, that I didnt do.).

Sometimes, the coast is clear, so I turn directly left off the main road. But even there, you have to be extra careful that some moron isnt coming down that same road, wants to turn left onto the main road, and is on the wrong f▪○☆⊙ing side of the road.
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
5,545
1,327
113
I had a person slam into the left side of my truck as I turned left into a driveway and as they were passing; with my blinker on. I always look in my mirror and over the shoulder now. He had no license, no papers for the motorcycle, no helmet, no insurance. Amet did nothing, and I saw him the following day blow through a stop sign. This is the wild Wild West. You are on your own and can expect nothing with regards to reimbursement from the guilty party.

I had a guy on a motorbike crash into the back left side of my pick-up, as I was turning left off the road into my driveway.
He was driving along the left side of the road -_- -_-....... f@#$ing moron......
He had no papers, no insurance......and was an undocumented haitian..... I did get a pizza out of it (lol), but no fix for the pick-up :( :(
 

jahjahwarrior

New member
Mar 14, 2017
137
5
0
Had someone pull that type of move the other day turning on to the highway to azua in barahona...years of motorcycle riding in the US means my head is on a swivel and I avoided an accident.

An hour later sitting in Semana Santa traffic with amet officers with shotguns keeping cars from passing on double lines while we were all sitting parked... Dominicans just cross the lines and continue when traffic slows, which eventually means both lanes are converted into four all heading one way, stopped because at some point in the distance the traffic going the other way did the same... It makes me so mad, watching the stupidity unfold, next year I will leave the country during Semana santa to avoid a brain aneurisma... Anyways this time finally the gun toting amet had everyone in a line. Until a charter bus broke free and soon the other lane was full again... I literally watched as the only amet without a gun tried to stop cars only to jump out-of-the-way as they tried to run him over.

Of course at the next officer with a gun, they were forced back in line ahead of us who waited.

Like I said, brain aneurysm, I literally cannot stand to watch that again. The police here do nothing about this type of stuff, yet I got a ticket for a supposedly illegal right hand turn that was completed safely and by us standards completely legally.

Don't ask if I also jumped the line to skip some traffic too [emoji854]
 

LTSteve

Gold
Jul 9, 2010
5,449
23
38
Twice in the past week, I have the identical fright..
thinking about it, I now remember that it can happen often.
But getting so close twice in a week really imprinted it in my feeble head.

Turning left....

In both cases to reach the destination I needed to cross over a double 'no passing' line... no rebase.

That doesn't preclude you from turning into a driveway...
just for passing/overtaking other vehicles.

In both cases, I put on the left turn indicator.... click, click, click

Twice, the car behind passed before I had a chance to turn.
Once in Cabarete, and just now in Cabrera

Today was a mild miss..... passing car swooshed by me well before my turn but still startled me.

Last Tuesday in Cabarete, was way too close.

The car passed at the last minute and had to swerve further left to avoid hitting me.
Unluckily, a pedestrian was walking alongside the opposing lane towards us.

He barely missed being killed or maimed.

The passing driver had words with him and then followed me into the driveway (to which I had turned)

A German (apologies to those countrymen)... he was belligerent from the start.
Started to instruct me that the double solid lines meant that I couldn't cross them.
Says he who had crossed them to pass me... clearly out of bounds!!

I gave him my opinion about the double line in no uncertain words.....
which were opposed to his thinking.

We got nowhere , but there was no damage/harm done.... luckily.

You need to be so careful
I have my mirrors adjusted to avoid side blind spots on both sides.... but whew !!
this was close.

Just reporting what happened and , as I said, I now remember having this 'sneaky quick pass' before a left turn a few times before.

Either ignorance or disregard for the rules of the road - IMO.

Some of the worst drivers in the world!!!!!! You need to drive defensively 24/7 in the DR and try to anticipate what the other drivers will do. This is a country where they think the horn is both
their brake and gas pedel. Good luck and God speed.
 

DRDone

Member
Sep 29, 2014
293
2
18
Twice in the past week, I have the identical fright..
thinking about it, I now remember that it can happen often.
But getting so close twice in a week really imprinted it in my feeble head.

Turning left....

In both cases to reach the destination I needed to cross over a double 'no passing' line... no rebase.

That doesn't preclude you from turning into a driveway...
just for passing/overtaking other vehicles.

In both cases, I put on the left turn indicator.... click, click, click

Twice, the car behind passed before I had a chance to turn.
Once in Cabarete, and just now in Cabrera

Today was a mild miss..... passing car swooshed by me well before my turn but still startled me.

Last Tuesday in Cabarete, was way too close.

The car passed at the last minute and had to swerve further left to avoid hitting me.
Unluckily, a pedestrian was walking alongside the opposing lane towards us.

He barely missed being killed or maimed.

The passing driver had words with him and then followed me into the driveway (to which I had turned)

A German (apologies to those countrymen)... he was belligerent from the start.
Started to instruct me that the double solid lines meant that I couldn't cross them.
Says he who had crossed them to pass me... clearly out of bounds!!

I gave him my opinion about the double line in no uncertain words.....
which were opposed to his thinking.

We got nowhere , but there was no damage/harm done.... luckily.

You need to be so careful
I have my mirrors adjusted to avoid side blind spots on both sides.... but whew !!
this was close.

Just reporting what happened and , as I said, I now remember having this 'sneaky quick pass' before a left turn a few times before.

Either ignorance or disregard for the rules of the road - IMO.

DUDE,
You are clearly doing something very dangerous crossing the double line to make a left. You're claiming it is legal, and let's assume you are right. It is still really dangerous and you're going to get someone or yourself killed doing this. How about using some common sense and make a left either before or after so you can pull right into your driveway and not be the cause of all these near misses because it is "legal" according to you.