How safe is driving through Mexico

mjplatt wrote:

I now take the bus from Houston (where I live) ...., you can take the bus all the way from Houston and feel quite secure.

@ mjplatt:    I'm interested in your bus route and company.  We live in Southern Mexico and most recently, we fly to Juarez and cross in taxi, but this time are thinking of taking the bus from Monterrey to Houston as my truck is currently parked there.

Can you give me some more info on the bus lines you have used and what destinations, etc.?

Thanks in advance for any info there.

Also, I've been driving down for years, though not recently as noted above.    I also hear that it's gotten worse, but friends who drove back a few weeks ago in early March 2011 via the Veracruz coast had no problems in their RV. 

my friends wrote:

We’re back in the USSA safe & sound, we had an easy trip, 3 days no problem, no missed topes, no narco- gangs, no bandito-policia around Tampico .  It seems going through on a Saturday morning is best(cops maybe recovering from Friday night drunk).  We saw no RV’s on the road and when we got to the Emerald Coast and Nautla there was no sight of campers, trailers or RV’s anywhere  only a few local student tenters. Most of the military stops had guys with an electronic wand (looked like a small transistor radio) that was waved around vehicles apparently to check for drugs? Or guns? Or aliens?

When we approached Matamoros we saw more and more military trucks stopped with troops hiding under bushes and in ditches (usually just smoking or eating). About 20K south of the border we had a herd of  14 Federale police cars (all mustangs!) pass us heading south away from town at high speed.

I imagine that a safe trip depends on you, the value of your vehicle, and most of all, the route.  The route we all take, from Reynosa/Matamoras down to Acayucan and then crossing the isthmus, seems to be ok still.

Edit: I just saw the newest post and may be wrong about the safety of the  Texas> Veracruz> Oaxaca route, as it's the same as "ours".   I plan on driving down one more time to bring another car (old) but besides that, buses and planes are becoming our choice.  Traffic is dangerous in Mexico as well, more and more uneducated and untrained drivers on the road, passing blindly on curves and hills.  No law, no control makes for a higher risk situation as the population grows. On the other hand, the highways are getting better and better.

Still doable, but.  As far as the advice of those who drove years ago, well, times have changed and the scoundrels are on the rise now.  It seems that more care and huevos and maybe sense of humor are required than ever. And luck.


Cheers,
Steve

FelipeZapata wrote:

The area just south of Reynosa has a particularly bad reputation. Were I in your shoes, I would drive a bit farther up the line and cross at Laredo. But no matter where you cross, strictly obey the speed limit until you get a good bit south of the border area. Stopping "speeders" is a favorite ruse.

The good news is that the overwhelming majority of Mexico is safer than the United States. Believe it.

Three things I can totally agree with. One is rethink all of the stuff, for the most part old pots, pans, and T.V.'s are just making things riskier, taking up space, and not worth loading into your vehicle. They can easily be replaced, and believe it or not they may cost less. There are places like Mercadolibre where you can order just about anything.

We returned to Mexico 5 months ago. The route was thoroughly planned using crime statistic maps. Which meant we avoided places like Tijuana or Juarez. Other than a flat tire due to pot holes we had no problem. Give yourself plenty of time to make it to the next town before dark , and stay on the toll roads which are much safer and there will be help if you have a breakdown or flat. The road crew came to change our flat with in 10 minutes. That's part of what your toll fee pays for. It's better as Felipe says to go to a safer crossing, and over all Mexico is safer than the U.S.

jiiliannrivera wrote:

Okay thank you. I am also looking for specific information about which toll roads I will be taking are they pretty well marked.

I should probably leave these details to people who know the route.
My experience in trip planning has been that Google Maps always chooses toll roads to calculate the shortest drive time.  You can add intermediate stops based on where you want to spend the night.  Signage is excellent but there are times going through cities on surface streets where you can easily miss the sign to the toll road.

Google Maps Street View might solve that problem by showing you landmarks.
A smartphone, Mexican chip and data package plus Google maps on the phone might be a good investment.  If you don't speak Spanish, it might take help from someone buying the chip and data package.

Auto Mechanic wrote:

No one can tell you for sure if it is safe or not safe to drive in Mexico. It is like asking is it safe to walk in Mexico? One day it may be safe, other day it may be not. It also depends on a place and time, at night it may be not safe, in the northern states closer to the US it may be not safe. But no one can reassure you that driving say in some places of Veracruz at night is safe, even for locals it may be not safe there.

And then again, it might very well be safe.

I'd say most of the million or so Americans living in Mexico have never had to fear for their safety.
Some of the locals in the city of Zacatecas have complained/talked/wrote about crime in the last 6 years.
I know of only 2, maybe 3 incidents that may have been associated with the drug violence plastered all over the US media.

Are there any guarantees?  No.