Now that we're coming up on living in PR for 1 ½ years, I thought I might share some general observations about driving here (San Juan area). I grew up and learned how to drive in the NYC Metro area, so I thought I've seen my fair share of craziness on the road.
I pretty much see one or more of these on a daily basis:
*If you dont like the posted speed limit, feel free to adjust it accordingly. Want to go 25mph in a 50mph zone? No problem. Want to do 50 in a 25? Rock on. Standard procedure for cab drivers.
*If your exit is coming up, move all the way over to the furthest left lane. Then, when you are right up on your exit, immediately cut across all available lanes and make your exit. (Cant tell you how many times I've seen this). And, if you miss your exit, dont worry. Just put it in reverse and back up to your exit.
*If your red light is taking too long, just go through it. If there's a cop behind you, dont worry they'll either do nothing at all or take your advice and do the same thing.
*Need to use your computer while driving? Your steering wheel makes a lovely laptop desk.
*If the lanes are too narrow, simply take up a couple or migrate back and forth between them.
*If you see a friend up ahead, just stop in your lane and have a chat. Pay no attention to the line forming behind you. (Happens all the time in OSJ, Condado, & Isla Verde)
*If all the cars ahead of you seem to be swerving, be prepared to do the same. They're probably just avoiding the monstrous potholes that never seem to get filled.
*If you get tired of driving, simply come to a complete stop (preferably in the middle lane of a busy highway) and switch drivers.
*For heaven's sake, do not use your turn signal! Or, if you must, dab a bit of glue into the indicator so it stays on permanently.
In all seriousness, when we moved here, several of our friends (native Puerto Ricans) gave us some really helpful advice:
*If you're first in line at a red light, don't be so quick to go. There maybe one, or two, or six cars going through the opposite red light.
*Be careful with your horn. There have been several violent encounters with drivers honking their horns.
Anybody else have other interesting experiences?
Driving Rules of Puerto Rico: A Lighthearted Look
If you are in the left turn lane waiting for the green narrow, pay attention to the car on your right that is in the going straight lane waiting at the red light. He will often cut in front of you to make a left turn as well, thereby circumventing the entire line in the left turn lane. Of course he won't use his signal.
Motorcycles riding down a crowded two lane road between the two lanes of cars. The police do it too.
If there is a Police car or an ambulance behind you with their lights flashing, don't worry about it unless their siren is going. Lights on is standard procedure. I once asked a group of policemen having lunch why they keep their blue flashing lights on all the time. They said it's used as a crime deterrent because it warns the bad guys that they are in the area. It took all I could muster to hold back my laughter.
The car clubs are fun. Especially the Jeeps and you are stuck next to a long line of them at a traffic light. They all have different music blasting at concert level, horns blowing. sirens going and lights flashing. It will leave your ears ring for several miles down the road afterwards.
Cars coming from a side road waiting to pull out onto the main road. They keep sticking the nose of the vehicle out into the road dangerously close to your approaching car. If you show a split second of weakness they will shoot out in front of you.
Don't be polite and let somebody at an intersection go by because at least ten others will follow right behind him. Four way stop sign rules are out the window.
There's lots more. But it's been over two years since I've had the pleasure of driving in PR. I'm sure I'll remember more later.
Oh, wow! I guess you need to keep your eyes alert at all times. We've seen the ambulances with their lights on all the time and no one pulls over.
"If you can't beat them, join them."
Works for me since 2001 
Best I've seen was an ancient work van pulling out of a parallel parking spot. The back left of the van caught the front left bumper of an SUV that was parked in front of it. When the van driver realized that he was scrapping the bumper off of the SUV, his solution was to simply hit the gas and bring his rear left wheel all the way over the corner of the SUV! This resulted in the lights getting crushed, the bumper getting ripped 75% of the way off and the front left of the SUV being dented-in pretty severely. Work van took off post-haste like he was the getaway driver in a bank robbery. I took down his license plate number and gave it to the school in front of which the cars were parked. Not sure what came of it.
Another nice one was when a real estate agent was showing an apartment in my building. She was parked in our lot and when she backed up to turn around, she managed to smash right into the front of my perfectly parked car. Realizing this, she immediately hit the gas and headed for the automatic gate. However, the security guard witnessed this and ran after her. He caught up with her and told her that leaving the scene of the accident wasn't what she was supposed to do. She told him she was in a rush and left.
Later that day, the security guard told me what had happened and gave me the estate agent's business card, which she had left at the desk prior to the accident! Naturally, I looked her up and sent her an email asking that she do the right thing and take responsibility with the insurance company. (I found out that we shared the same insurance company somehow.)
A few days later I got a snide email from the estate agent's lawyer claiming that no accident had taken place. (He did not know that I was also a lawyer.) This email was accompanied by pictures of my car that the estate agent or lawyer had taken some days after the event and some legal threats. However, these pictures were carefully taken to not include the front of the car where the damaged occurred. I thanked him for his bush-league attempt at intimidation, attached the photos I had taken that clearly showed the damage, pointed out to him I had a witness in the security guard, and informed him that there was video tape of the entire incident taken by the apartment complex's security cameras. Shortly thereafter, the insurance company notified me that the lady had admitted liability.
The moral of these stories is don't expect anyone to ever take responsibility for anything in Puerto Rico. Some regular person could run you over on the sidewalk and the chances that they will flee the scene are close to 100% even if you're laying there dying (just read the newspapers about how many hit and runs there). So never expect anything otherwise and always be prepared for the most illogical and stupid driving imaginable and you'll be alright. (And this is coming from someone who's driven in Sicilian cities and lived in Central America.)
You have to join them to some degree or you have to stay off the roads. It's not so bad once you get the hang of driving amongst the locals. Once you get over the sheer amazement at how people drive there you learn what to expect. Although almost every time i went out on the road I would see something totally new and unexpected. My wife tells me that driving in the Dominican Republic is much worse.
"If you can't beat them, join them."
Absolutely. In fact, now that I'm more comfortable driving here, it's quite entertaining watching these things transpire on the roads. I'm a defensive driver by nature, and I think that's helped a lot.
I'd love to get a GoPro and record all the crazies that go on here - I bet I can get several clips of what I described in one day!
My personal favorite is when you pass your exit, back up and then enter. Or better yet, if you got on the wrong exit, back up and get back on the highway.
Although I should warn you guys, a few weeks ago (after being here for a little over a year) we got pulled over twice in two weeks. We bought a car when we first got here that had tinted windows, the guy who did a check up on the car mistakenly told us we only needed to removed the tint from the front two windows. Anyhoo, we got two tickets, one we didn't even notice until we got home because they were stuck together. We still don't know what that one is for and it doesn't say specifically. I checked online to see if they were showing up in our account and they haven't yet. We'll probably just pay it since its just not worth taking off work for.
Anyway, we thought it was really unusual to be pulled over twice in two weeks and we noticed that there was a lot more of a police presence in our area, Arecibo. This past friday on my way to Pueblo, about 4 miles max, I passed at least 10 police cars, half of them were in the process of issuing citations. Friday evenings though seem to have the highest rate. I did a quick google search and found this article:
PR police turn to ticketing to fund reform
Thank you, your post was hysterical but true and mid you, I haven;t began driving here yet. I am kind of petrified to start doing so. But I figured if my friend can do, so can I. Happy motoring and by all means be careful.
Just read your piece on driving in PR. Things obviously havnt changed a bit since our 9 years on the island back in the 60's and 70"s, I `
Things never change, they just get worse. We spent about 9 years living in San Juan back in the late 60" and early 70's, and needless to say where appalled by the offensive driving habits of native Ricans.
Never let a driver get into the stream of traffic from a side street. If you do you invited drivers behinds you ramming your car in the rear or having them get out of their car and attacking you if you don't lock our doors.
Eddie Lopez who was a writer for the San Juan Star at the time wrote one of the greatest pieces on the subject I have ever read. He entitled it God Gave this Road to me, as a take off on the music from the then popular film Exodus God Gave this Land to me. If the Star is still running, go through the Archives, and try to find it. It needs reprinting .
I don't miss this aspect of life in San Juan, and I wish you the best in coping with the problem. I am afraid it wont go away, and you just have to accept it.
Jack Benz\
Cayman Islands
Jack Benz wrote:Just read your piece on driving in PR. Things obviously havent changed a bit since our 9 years on the island back in the 60's and 70s
There you go, Jack!
Watch out for horses near the road! haha
haha!
I can agree with all the stories posted under this topic so far, having seen the same things or experienced them. Here's my theory on how the natives operate: As long as you do not make eye contact with the other drivers, you can do whatever you want! I have had people pull out in front of me, back into me, or other illegal/dangerous maneuvers, and they never make eye contact. It's as though my car and I don't exist. But, on the slim chance one of these drivers finally does look up, I make sure I control my anger (and my fingers!) so I don't take the chance of getting shot. I usually wave and shout "Have a Nice Day" with a great deal of sarcasm that no one appreciates except me because the other drivers never look at me! And one of my friends who used to live here always said "Red lights are only suggestions in Puerto Rico!"
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