大咖福利影院

Coloradomike wrote:

Good morning,
Well, you said it all. It is like you said. Driving in San Jose is like playing a computer game.....fast reflexes. You never know what the vehicle next to you might do and especially, first thing in the morning, there are more people crossing the street than vehicles. In the USA, you cross the street usually at crosswalks and at the corner or you might get a ticket for Jay Walking. Not here, you cross whenever and where ever you please. Now you are dodging people too.Practice up on your Pac Man skills聽 :l ol: or get some practice in NY or LA
Have a great day

LOL. I don't think even Los Angeles or New York prepare one for the craziness of聽 Costa Rica drivers or the poor/weird signage, pedestrians running in front of you, taxis cutting in and out of traffic, etc. in Costa Rica!

davidraycr wrote:

...Drive far ahead of your vehicle and especially around turns. I know in my area they are always in my lane and i have learned to hold my ground and not run聽 off the road.I聽 Drive with care and slow down.

You make a very good point here!
I have almost been run off of the road as trucks come around curves in MY lane, heading towards me. I have seen others run off on the road going out to Los Angeles (or to Arenal) from San Ramon.
You MUST be very alert and drive DEFENSIVELY, especially on highways.
Personally I find the autopista better than the non-freeways. It's the regular highways that are the most dangerous in my opinion.

sporto505 wrote:

I love the driving habits of Costa Ricans.聽 聽Compared to what I saw in ABQ. NM, and cities like Chicago or Phoenix, Costa Ricans are much more tolerant, much more courteous, and use a whole lot more common sense in getting around.聽 聽My experience in the States, is no one lets another person in their lane.聽 If someone needs to exit right,in the next 500 yards,聽 聽good luck.聽 Every driver wants to make that car get behind them, NOT in front of them!!!聽 聽The car trying to merge right almost has to come to a stop before someone will let them merge.聽 聽
Half the drivers get in the passing lane ( the Left median lane, for the clueless ) and stay there.聽 聽it does not matter if a dozen faster drivers are stacked up behind them, it is "their" piece of road, and they are not moving for anyone.聽 聽( This type of driving has increased with the level of entitlement most States citizens seem to feel entitled to in the rest of their daily lives ).聽 聽

The states has more rules and more accidents than what I have witnessed here in Costa Rica.聽 The states also seem to have a lot more police officers who's task is to issue tickets and fund the City Hall budget.聽 These officers issue ticket after ticket for what amounts to chicken s**t violations just to meet quota's imposed on them by the City Mayor to Police Chief, to keep paying for the bloated bureaucracies.聽 This crap conduct does nothing to make the roads safer or more conducive to moving traffic along quicker.聽 It has to do with municipal budgets.聽 聽 聽

In CR, and in San Jose in particular, common sense rules the road.聽 聽Is it stupid to sit at a traffic light when no other cars are within sight?聽 You betcha.聽 聽Is it stupid to complain about hitting a telephone pole on the side of the road (versus the sidewalk where the others are located )when had you not been texting someone or talking to a friend, or any other act distracting your attention, you would have seen it and not hit it?聽 You betcha.聽 聽If one is sitting in a line of traffic moving at 5mph, does it make sense to be courteous and let a driver from a side road or store parking lot, into the line ahead of you?聽 聽you bet your sweet bippy it does.聽 聽

I do not know if the culture of Costa Ricans is responsible for the daily acts of common courtesy I see here on the roads or the generally lower level of controlled traffic or conditions of the roads that encourages people to be more relaxed about other's driving habits.聽 聽But, I love it.聽 聽Does it bother me when a car in the lane next to me decides to proceed thru a red light?聽 not in the least.聽 and I have not seen any other driver get upset.聽 聽But try that in the US and you'll have a handful of rule enforcers honk vociferously at you.聽 ( yes, I've been honked at ).

I can only hope that most of the US citizens who move here are too scared to drive their fancy cars here.聽 keep them OFF the road and in the taxis or buses!!聽 聽it makes everything else much easier for Tico's or others who use common sense to drive and do not rely on rules or painted lines to make their driving experience equal to that of a nearly-blind 80 year old.

Sporto, I would be interested to know what area of聽 Costa Rica you are used to driving in.
Because you sure don't see any of what you describe, above, around San Jose! Nor on the autopista going west.

Glad it's good for you, though, and I 100% agree with you about the system of giving tickets to make money, in the USA. Unfortunately I see the same thing beginning to take place in Costa Rica, except that so far, yet, they don't have the budget to hire more ticket-givers. But they've put the system in place, with VERY high fines for things like speeding, no left turns, uturns, etc etc.

Let's hope that this experience you have of "considerate" drivers does indeed spread all over Costa Rica! Because where I have driven, I just don't see it. And when I spoke of running red lights in San Jose I was not speaking of someone who is stopped and then decides to go through because there's no traffic. I have no problem with that. What I have seen - and many others see regularly I'm sure - is that taxis just barrel through without stopping at all. I have no idea how they figure this is safe but they do it, just as big trucks do come around blind curves in YOUR lane.

Good luck and all I can say is do not ASSUME that the Tico drivers are considerate or safe in every case, because many of us are reporting that they are not and one MUST drive very defensively and carefully in Costa Rica!

sporto505 wrote:

" that kinda crap".聽 As I mulled over this term it occurred to me this goofball conduct exhibited by Tico drivers, is perhaps one thing I find most endearing about this country.聽 whether it is double parking on a busy street, or making a u-turn across six lanes of traffic, this kind of driving expresses "freedom" to me and in-turn, "acceptance" or something close to it.

For sure, I am spoiled here because when I drive I am not trying to get to work on time, nor meet a client, or make a meeting across town.聽 聽So I don't feel the stress I once did getting somewhere on time.聽 I suspect with such deadlines, internally imposed or otherwise, I would not be so forgiving of admittedly rude or selfish behavior.聽 However, that said, I find this goofy conduct endearing because it expresses common sense and freedom to me.聽 The mild mellow Tico way of life where they accept these goofy incidents, find ways to go around the blockage, and go on with their lives without making a fuss about it is attractive.聽 It instills a communal sense of life.聽 This acceptance by Tico's is a direct expression of the attraction of these peoples and their society.聽 They don't sweat the small stuff.聽

America is all about assigning blame and a transfer of some wealth ( or penalty ) based on fault.聽 While that system exists here, it does not appear to be paramount.聽 Rather, going along and getting along is paramount.聽 That attitude permits the occasional goof who doesn't have time to park four blocks away, so he/she double parks.聽 And the Tico response I see is patience and accommodation.聽 They go around, wait quietly, whatever.聽 聽They recognize the common sense of running a red light when no other cars are around an intersection.聽 聽I agree.聽 Common sense to me.聽

WHY sit there waiting when the purpose of the traffic light is temporarily moot?聽 " Because its the law" is the US retort.聽 So the law trumps common sense.聽 The majority of americans seem to love laws and security.聽 Try running a red light in America and it is no, no, no, no on every end of the scale.聽 聽Cars honk at you even though there is not another moving car in sight.聽 Traffic tickets are at flood level because they finance local government.聽 聽Personally, I am grateful for Costa Rican drivers.聽 :0)

You do make some good points about the endearing qualities of Ticos and their way of thinking.

That said, I was not speaking of a driver stopping at a red light then deciding to go when there is no traffic. No, I am speaking of drivers simply running red lights, not even stopping. It's a form of Russian Roulette with cars, I guess, which is not cool under any circumstances imho.

Yes I not only have seen this, I have seen it many times when I'm in a taxi in San Jose' - far too often when my taxista is the guy doing it!

By the way on my recent trip I decided to drive my rental car to and from the Paseo Colon office. My thought was, "Paseo Colon is on the way out of town so it should not be hard to get in and out of that end of town; I won't drive anywhere else in San Jose'!

The pick up and getting out of town went just fine.
But coming back to return the car, it took me nearly an hour to get to where I wanted to go. Traffic was gridlocked everywhere I turned, one ways prevented me from going where I wanted to get to, then caused me to get lost. Gridlock made me wait 15 min to go 3 blocks. It was HORRIBLE. Way worse than the worst areas of the USA imho. (The problem was I thought there'd be a gas station just outside of town but there was not or I didn't see one. So when I got into town I had to get gas before returning the car. Finding a gas station got me horribly messed up. You could make an argument that if I knew where I was going it would have been better. Yes, true. Better, but still horrible due to traffic.

Let's put it this way:
My resolve not to drive in or near San Jose' was reinforced. I will park SOMEWHERE (still have to figure out where) on the outer edge of San Jose then take a taxi in there from now on. If I have to rent a car or if a friend does, I will do so at the office not at but near the airport. Better to pay the taxi fee into town than to drive in and out of SJ. That's my opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own.

As to tickets, yes they are used in the USA to finance the City government and yes it is a lousy aspect of living in the USA. That said, I wonder if Costa Rica is not taking a page from our book and beginning to do the same thing? Have you read of the high ticket costs for things like speeding and uturns? I am all for punishing people but tickets the same cost as in the U.S. to people who are living on far less, who don't make $50-100k a year? I think it's criminal.

I wonder how many tickets are being given out to Ticos and how many are given out to Gringos? And I wonder how many are given out in general? And where the money goes? I hope that these tickets are only given out when the officer really sees a danger in it, not just to every "by the book" violation. Here in the USA they are given out with much enthusiasm, completely "by the book"; they love giving them out!