Road rage, a valuable lesson learned.

[beeza]

Last night, on our way to the U2 concert in Cabarete, the traffic was gridlocked. It took half an hour to get from Banco Popular to Banco Progesso. Had I thought ahead, I would have parked up before Cabarete and taken a moto into town. However I didn't and joined the rest of the queue that was going that way.

Everyone was patiently waiting for the traffic to move, when some idiot decided to overtake the long queue and cause a further block with the traffic coming the other way. I had my window down so I put out my hand. tapped his mirror and shouted "Hey where do you think you're going?"

He slammed on his brakes. The child in the back seat went flying, he got out, slammed his door and came to my window with a very angry face on. In Spanish, he asked me what my problem was. In Spanish I asked him why he thought he was more important than everybody else waiting patiently? He replied in perfect English "Because it's my f***ing country!"

He slapped the side of my car then got into his jeep reached into his glovebox took out his gun and started waving it at me muttering something in Spanish. Drove off nearly knocking over pedestrians and motorcyclists and caused another roadblock up ahead.

The Politur were around trying (but failing) to sort out the traffic so I mentioned to him what had just happened. My girlfriend also repeated what she saw. He was not interested at all!

Well we finally got through the roadblock, to find out that it was caused by some idiot who had practically abandoned his car in the narrowest part of the street.

So I have learned a valuable lesson to keep my feelings to myself on these roads as I'm likely to get shot!

The U2 concert was excellent though and more than made up for it!

[rio2003]

Nasty experience beeza ...... and it goes to show how easily things can escalate to a very dangerous situation.....

About 4 years ago,while working in POP I was on my way to the airport on a coach with just the driver and two porters. The driver had pulled out from a side road by the old stadium on to the main road through to Sosua (carretera Luperon) and pulled up at the lights at Plaza Turisol. A car cut across us and a guy got out shouting and waving a pistol around in full view of everyone. I assume he thought the coach had cut him up?
We all sat very still and eventually he got back in his car and roared off but it was a terrifying experience and thank heavens we didn't have any tourists on board ......

[cobraboy]

Rum, guns, traffic and short fuses don't mix.

Never poke a stick at a dog you don't know.

[rio2003]

Originally Posted by cobraboy

Rum, guns, traffic and short fuses don't mix.

So very true ....... and it can take so little to light the fuse!

[Rocky]

I have seen and experienced similar things, Beeza.
I'm glad you made it through, as it is a very very dangerous situation, and one wrong word or move at the wrong time, could cost you dearly, in such a situation.
I guess that developing the patience of Jobe, might be the only helpful solution.

[bachata]

Originally Posted by beeza

Last night, on our way to the U2 concert in Cabarete, the traffic was gridlocked. It took half an hour to get from Banco Popular to Banco Progesso. Had I thought ahead, I would have parked up before Cabarete and taken a moto into town. However I didn't and joined the rest of the queue that was going that way.

Everyone was patiently waiting for the traffic to move, when some idiot decided to overtake the long queue and cause a further block with the traffic coming the other way. I had my window down so I put out my hand. tapped his mirror and shouted "Hey where do you think you're going?"

He slammed on his brakes. The child in the back seat went flying, he got out, slammed his door and came to my window with a very angry face on. In Spanish, he asked me what my problem was. In Spanish I asked him why he thought he was more important than everybody else waiting patiently? He replied in perfect English "Because it's my f***ing country!"

He slapped the side of my car then got into his jeep reached into his glovebox took out his gun and started waving it at me muttering something in Spanish. Drove off nearly knocking over pedestrians and motorcyclists and caused another roadblock up ahead.

The Politur were around trying (but failing) to sort out the traffic so I mentioned to him what had just happened. My girlfriend also repeated what she saw. He was not interested at all!

Well we finally got through the roadblock, to find out that it was caused by some idiot who had practically abandoned his car in the narrowest part of the street.

So I have learned a valuable lesson to keep my feelings to myself on these roads as I'm likely to get shot!

The U2 concert was excellent though and more than made up for it!

you are lucky to be alive today............Congratulation.

Next time follow him.
We say this phase in the DR..... " Al pais que fueres haz lo vieres ".

JJ.

[Chip]

I see these impatient drivers here in Santiago too (just passing traffic jams in the oncoming lane, no guns). At first I had a hard time understanding it but after a while I just figured, when in Rome do as the Romans.

I do remember one particular traffic jam by the monument where some bright eyed individual decided to pass like about 300 meters of traffic only to have to try to merge when the oncoming traffic came. Of course he couldn't merge back in because all of the cars were stopped in his lane and we couldn't pass because of a curb and sidewalk on the right so we all sat there for about 10 min. completely blocking Las Carerras. When traffic finally advanced enough for him to megre in and us to pass, I rolled down my window and yelled "Get out of the street, why don't you" (in Spanish of course) and the guy shoots back with a big smile, "just drive up on the sidewalk"!

[elton]

I still like to follow traffic rules like stopping at lights ,wearing seat belts and indicating, even if noone else does - call me old fashioned (theres some shocking expat driving here as well as Dominican driving )- my father was a driving instructor

[JDJones]

You guys haven't seen a traffic jam until you come down to my part of the country, in Nigua, where are the sand and gas trucks jocky for position with the employee buses coming out of the free zone.

Get in THEIR way, and they don't mind taking some paint off of your car.

These guys wrote the book on gridlocks....

[Celt202]

I got caught in a traffic jam during the final rally for Miguel Vargas' campaign for the presidency. I was going eastbound on the Malecón in Santo Domingo and there was obviously going to be a problem at Lincoln so I took a left at Inmigración and went north to Independencia. As I approached Lincoln I realized it was the Vargas rally so I took a left at the Chinese restaurant just before Lincoln and decided to get cute and take the back roads to José Contreras.

I took a right and got swallowed up in the gridlock because a sea of humanity was flooding down Lincoln. Over an hour I was able to make a right onto Lincoln, go south a block, make a u-turn and go back up a block to the lane that feeds into José Contreras to the east of Lincoln. Traffic was stuck there, even though I was beyond the Vargas crowd. The westbound traffic on Contreras was stuck because of the crowd and we who were the eastbound traffic wannabes were stuck because the all the lanes on Contreras were completely jammed by people who wanted to go west.

There was no road rage. It was a great opportunity to observe Dominicans in a situation that defies North American logic. The people stuck in the jam were not happy but endured. I got a good laugh when a helicopter flew over and dropped PLD fliers.

After about an hour and a half or two hours traffic started to sort out. An extraordinary thing happened. As the desfile descending Lincoln started to peter out the westbound traffic started to move in fits and starts. All the lanes were still jammed by people trying to go west and several men started directing traffic on their own account. Vehicle by vehicle they would would direct a westbound car into the right lane and and direct an eastbound vehicle to advance one car length. These were not AMET, they were the kind of guys who offer to watch your car or wash it if you park in the Colonial Zone.

The whole process took about a half hour and they advanced the eastbound lane step by step and did not ask anybody for tips. It was an incredible spontaneous phenomenon. One guy had a big stick. If you were walking down the street and saw this guy coming you'd consider crossing the street.

When you live in Santo Domingo you can see some really ugly things. You also see things like these guys sorting out traffic that make you shake your head and think, "How do I explain something like this to my brother in Arlington, Texas." What an amazing country.