New Ley de Tránsito:
First World Law on Third World Roads
For the first time in all my years of
driving in Costa Rica my eyes yesterday were
focused on the speedometer and the road
ahead, watching for traffic cops with a
radar unit. The new Ley de Tránsito had a
great effect on my driving habits, which
overnight had to change drastically.
Not only now was I concerned with keeping an
eye on other drivers, the many "idiots" that
circulate on Costa Rican roads, but
concerned with keeping my speed under the 20
km/h limit and paying particular attention
to the posted speed limits, something I have
rarely done.
Like most drivers I have been pulled over on
a number of occasion. Save for my "pull
overs" in Nicaragua, all my Costa Rican
"pull overs" have been for speeding. Hey, I
like to go fast and with ˘5.000 colones in
my pocket I could easily afford to give
myself the luxury, when the road and
conditions permitted, of course.
However, yesterday, travelling from San José
to Guanacaste was another thing. Although I
had expected a great concentration of
traffic cops all over the place, especially
at major intersections and known radar
spots, I only found two traffic crews
operating - one in Limonal and the other
near the Nicoya intersection, in both places
where the speed limit drops from 80 kn/h to
40 km/h, only for an instant.
In all in all, even though I kept a vigil
eye on my speedometer and kept within the
limits as much as possible, my driving time
from Santa Ana to Hacienda Pinilla took only
20 minutes longer than the same trip the
week earlier before the new traffic law.
At night coming back, I didn't have to worry
about my speed,, as you see the radar units
do not work at night in Costa Rica,
especially outside of the Central Valley.
Shish, don't read it aloud, keep our little
secret to yourself.
My major concern for being pulled over was
simply economical. There is the fine, Ok, it
will dent my pocket book, a lot. But more,
the points. Accumulating points with a
"first world" law in a "third world" country
is very simple and can be very fast.
The traffic cops have their new armament, a
law that intents to drop the mortality rate
on the nation's roads (28 deaths alone last
month) and reduce reckless driving habits,
but the roads are still the same.
With the exception of the new highway to
Caldera, the majority of the roads lack
proper signalization and design to make it
safe and easy to offend. Drivers on many of
the roads are kept guessing of the speed
limit, for example, or incorrect or improper
road dividers.
Crossing a median can be very costly. But, a
majority of the roads do not have a median
painted on the road surface. Maybe it did
once, but the rain, the heavy use and the
lack of maintenance, many times leaves only
a trace of where the median once was.
Two things I noticed yesterday during my
tour of the roads: one, traffic was lighter
than normal, both during the day and the
evening; and two, the new has not stopped
the "idiots", not the many few who commit
errors, but have no clue that they are not
only committing errors but endanger the
lives of others with their idiotic acts.
In one example, a pair of knuckle heads
decided to two a vehicle on the new San
José-Caldera. The front vehicle was towing
the rear vehicle, in total darkness (at
11pm), going up the hill to the Atenas toll
station, and without flashing lights and
reflectors, going maybe 20 km/h. I
wish I was making this up. But nearly plowed
into these two.
For the lack of traffic cops on the road
last night - the only traffic cops on the
road between Liberia and Santa Ana was the
pair at Limonal, in front of the Shell
station, probably having a "gallo pinto",
since there are no donut shops in Costa
Rica.
I did report the idiots to the toll station
operator who told he would report it to his
boss, that would probably report it to his
or her boss and so on. Fortunately there was
no news of an accident on the highway last
night.
All in all, I am in favour of the new
traffic law and will reduce my speed and
change my driving habits.
But, lets get the idiots off the roads,
Please.
I urge you to use this space to send me your
stories. I promise they will be published
here. Send your stories to
[email protected].
PS. The two times I was stopped in
Nicaragua, one for a "maniobra indebita" and
the second for not pulling directly into the
left lane from an intersection. In the
first, I was never told what I had done
wrong, only that the other cop way back with
the radio had seen me commit an offence. OK,
officer will 20 corbobas (us$1 +/-) take of
that? And the other, self explanatory, as
Nicaraguan traffic rules a little different
that the rules I have been used to driving
in from Canada to Panama. |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
