New traffic law wants clowns and vendors off the streets

New transit law wants these clowns off the street

SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA – September 25^th, 2012 – Costa Rica’s new Ley de Transito (traffic law) seeks not only to punish drivers who commit irresponsible acts on the road, but also those pedestrians who could cause accidents due to carelessness or negligence.

The new traffic law contains an entire chapter – Article 120 – pertaining to pedestrians.

One of the first changes you should notice on Costa Rica’s roadways will be the absence of street vendors. The new law prohibits street vending, juggling and circus-type acts, begging or asking for money, or any other commercial activity in the streets, which many motorists here have been long accustomed.   Anyone in violation of the law will face a 20,000-colon ticket.

The law also takes aim at jaywalking, punishing those who – with an existence of a sidewalk – still walk on the street, as well as those who in urban areas do not cross the streets at corners, cross zones, or pedestrian walkways, with a 20,000-colon fine.

There will also be fines for those who walk on railroad tracks, and those who walk on the left side of public roads when there are no sidewalks.