Drivers Beware!

I am married to a Dominican Lady, my two children are Dominican (actually they have dual citizenship)and I have lived here for ten years. How long must I live here before I can criticize my surroundings without being a bigot?

Please don't waste any time with pity on me. I could not be happier in my retirement....TEACHING MY SKILLS TO OTHERS.

and finally.....

THINK FOR YOURSELF AND ALLOW OTHERS THE SAME PRIVILEGE
HAVE PATIENCE WITH AND COMPASSION FOR ALL
AS WE ARE OF THE SAME CREATOR

first it would be intresting to see the accident stats. for the dominican republic,having been a frequent visitor their ihave only seen a couple of accidents thousands of close calls though.i offen here about the corrupt police but in their defence abit who would you give a ticket to,the speeder,the driver on the sidewalk,the guy going the wrong way,the one cutting across three lines of traffic,mind you he is blowing his horn,allthis at the same time and your the cop pick one who is it going to be.well maybe they could start like monday any one driving on the side walk gets a ticket,tuesday it's people who cut off firetrucks and ambulances and etc.the fines may seem small to some but you have to start some where hopefully it will start to make it safer for people.

This isn't directed at anyone person, but it would be nice if we could keep some of these comments off the board. Send them via email or take them to another board.

ECH, MD has been a valuable contributor to this board for a long time. Actually, even before this board existed!
As for his work in the public health sector, some other people should take a leaf out of his book.

Man, some of you must get a kick out of being deleted!
Don't bother replying to this message, it will just get canned. If you have a problem, email me.

Happy Holidays!

Rob.

It is considerate when the subject line reflects the contents of the message and/or thread.

Most Dominicans do not know how to drive. I don't think anyone can say any different. Drivers for the two major bus companies excepted. The richer they are "the fancier the jeepetas" the more obnoxious they are. The rich can do what they want and the poor "well...." So lets be realistic. Happy and Safe Holidays.
Eddy

I don't really know if I'd say "can't drive". Despite the
comments in this thread, we seem to have forgotten
all mileage driven WITHOUT accidents! True enough, for
a newly arrived foreigner, it can look as a vehicular
dramatisation of Dante, but when you look deeper, and
realize that eye-contact is a much used tool, much
overlooked (sorry!) in other countries, the situation
becomes clearer. As for "good" driving in the "civilized"
world, I might give you this: In Luxembourg and France,
you have two street-signs warning you that right-hand
priority is in effect: "Prioritet a droit" and "Prioritet
a droit absolute". Bad driving formalized to the level
of street-signs?

Could it more be like freedom=responsibility?
In US, as well as Europe, "big-brother" is watching you
all the time. Often with "good intention", but in many cases
not. Both in US and Europe you can, and will get fined
for crossing a red-light or stop sign, even when it's
miles of free sight and painstakingly obvious that noone
(except the hidden police-car) is around for the mentioned
miles.

On the other hand, both in the US and Europe, there are
tax-funded structures to care for victims (Charity-funded
are partially tax-funded, since contributions are normally
tax-deductible!)

Here, official enforcement of traffic laws are much
more lenient (close to non-existant), but you're pretty
much on your own if you mess up and get hurt.

If you're LUCKY, you might get helped by Dr. Ech or one of his
thousands of fine volonteering collegues throughout the country!
I'm now speaking about us, the majority, who can't afford an
expensive health insurance at la Corominas or similar!

To round up: During my 20++ years of (accident-free) driving,
I covered some 400.000 km (300.000 miles?) in a variety
of "traffic cultures". One of the biggest problems I noticed
is when someone is trying to enforce his or her foreign
culture onto a local. Try for instance to drive "american"
in Stockholm, Sweden, rush-hours, and I'll give you 30-40 seconds
before the crash!

Even a 500 dollar fine wouldn't rectify the behaviour of
an arrogant "rich" driver, but would effectively kill
the poor and his/her family. But justice must be equal
for all. See the dilemma?

/Gunnar

After 12 years of driving in the DR, wrrying about housing , crime etc; I've decided it would be sensible to purchase a used M113 APC to live and travel in

The swedish S90 is a rather nifty alternative...

A bit too modern and way out or my price range. There are operable 113's around for 40-55- thousand, a lot of money but tno more than a SUV. It doesn't dent easilt, hardly ever gets stuck, automatically has the right of way, and if not, makes the right of way with anything smaller than a 80 ton truck. You can have space for 11 people, runs on gasoline does throw tracks now and then
THE SV 90 is quite a vehicle, something the US should look at to replace that stupid Bradlee FV

Humm. It's been around for some time, but I like it's
speed. It DOES have the right of way in most common
situations. Like when Fort Knox is blocking your way...