First let me start with everyone is okay, no one was hurt.
Background Info:
Since moving to Costa Rica we've been slightly shocked with the drivers here. In a word, they are LOCO. Like in other countries we visited around the world, it's organized chaos, and there's a particular order to the flow. Not by the laws, but by the unspoken rules.
One of these rules is that pedestrians don't have the right of way... EVER. There are yellow squares with hearts inside them painted on the roads here to show where a pedestrian has been killed by a motorist. There is one painted a few blocks from our house. A woman was walking to church and as she crossed the street a motorist driving really fast, didn't stop for her, and sadly, she died.
When Ramona was here, she'd walked us to school every morning with Myles. I made her call us when she arrived home, even though it interrupted our class, because I was worried about that same thing happening. We have a canned speech we give our visitors when they come to visit us, about how to be safe walking in San Jose.
The thing is, it's the norm here, but it's very different from the United States.
The Accident:
We rented a car for Grandpa Mike's and Diane's visit. Morgan, Myles, Mike and I decided to take a quick trip to the store to buy some things for our upcoming beach trip. On the way home we were hit by a bus in a rotunda. The bus driver tried to make a right hand turn from the inside lane. He clipped our back, driver's side light. I personally think, the bus driver thought he could clear it, and it was a simple misjudgement.
So began a long, not so pleasant lesson on how "the system" works.
I was pretty shaken up from the accident, not b/c I was hurt, but b/c Myles was in the car. He didn't even know that we were hit. But it freaked me out.
We learned here, that when there is an accident, you are not suppose to move your car. You have to wait for the traffic police (not the regular police) and the insurance agency representative to come out and inspect the accident. These seem extremely inefficient and a huge hassle for all the other drivers who have to make it around the blocked area of the road. You can see in the picture below a car on the right is swerving around the stopped bus and our car to try and get where he was going.
The picture also shows the back end of the bus in the inside lane. |
Morgan and the bus driver had 10 business days to go to a government building and make a declaration of their side of the story. We went the following day (twice) so he could make his declaration and move on from the incident. We were told a translator would be provided for him b/c that was one of his rights. Well, when we arrived in the morning we were told that the translator was "out" and wouldn't be back until the 10th day. We felt uncomfortable waiting it out, so we asked our friend Carmen to come and translate for him that afternoon.
It's interesting they go through this process for every single accident. Even if not one was hurt, or it's a simple fender-bender. Once both sides have given their declaration, a judge reads through all the information, including the traffic police officers report and make a decision who is at fault.
Other incidents:
On my way home with Myles we saw another accident where a bus had literally run over a motorcyclist and bike.We didn't see the motorcyclist, just the bike under the front part of the bus.
Two months into our stay here, I was running with my friend Maria at the University of Costa Rica. I was almost hit by a bus. It was so close! At first I didn't see the bus, and based on the unspoken rules, it wasn't going to stop for me b/c I was just a pedestrian. Thankfully, I saw it and had enough time to sprint in the other direction. It was such a close call. After, I said to Maria, "I don't think it was going to stop." And she responded, "No, it wasn't going to stop."
On our trip home from Arenal a bus and truck clipped each other on a two lane road at a hair-pin turn. It completely blocked the road. Therefore all the other motorist had to find alternative routes.
We asked our taxi driver Manuel (the guy who takes us everywhere when we don't have a car) to drive Mike and Diane to the airport when they left. He didn't show up which is extremely uncharacteristic of him. He later called me to let me know another taxi driver hit him when he was on the way to our house.
I'm pretty sure when we return to the US, one thing I won't miss is the driving situation here in Costa Rica. We're safe and will continue to be vigilant.
1 comment:
Glad no one was hurt!!! The lady walking home from church who was hit and died, is that the same lady who walked you home from class? That must have been so sad for you. When did that happen?
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