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Sunday, July 15, 2012

Driving in Puerto Rico

It is kind of new experience for me to drive in Puerto Rico.I never thought that I will be given an opportunity to do this.Since Puerto Rico is a very nice island,the driving experience was really great.

The road condition
I think the road condition is similar like Malaysia but in some cases we have a better structure.In here,people are driving at the right side of the road and driver position in the car is at the left hand side. The exit of highway are not limited to the left side but you will also have an exit at the right side.So you should be careful and confirm where you are heading to.
Normal road has two lane,and in highway sometimes they have up to four lanes but roads inside a village and small town are usually narrow and dangerous since most of the roads are dark.
Amazingly,it is barely to see motorcyclist since most of the people didn't use motorcycle as a daily transport.So it is easier to drive compare to Malaysia.

The cars
I found that many people in here using Toyota.And most of the taxi using big cars like four wheel drive. We can also see nice cars like Maserati,Jaguar and Porsche strolling along the road.

Traffic
Similar to Malaysia,the traffic is quite heavy in cities like San Juan and they have a very bad traffic during peak hours as well.Usually traffic is smooth in the morning during weekend.

People
The drivers here can be said as kind.They will give you lane when necessary and it is nearly impossible to see they driving so near behind you.Especially when you are following the speed limit.What I can see,if they want to overtake you,they will use the right lane instead of making you panic or beaming to you.This is really rare condition in Malaysia.People in Puerto Rico sometimes didn't like to use signals when they make a turn,so be careful.

Regulation
In highway the maximum speed is 65 miles per hour which is more and less 110 km/h.And the maximum speed limit in the normal road is 50 miles per hour.In highway you have to pay toll and similar to Malaysia,they have the express lane,cash lane and automatic lane.You need to have a certain device to use in express lane.The que at the cash lane were very long especially during holidays.And at some of the booth they didn't provide you the change.Instead they will provide you a prepaid card which you can use if you have enough money in it.And also if you have some change when you pay,they will put the change in this card.

Important words
Words like velocidad maxima which mean max velocity,salida:exit, pare: stop, solo: turn, entrada: entrance are the most important words you have to remember when you are driving here.This words are in Spanish.

Road name
It is easier for you to remember the road name since all the road are named after a numbers.So when you study a map, you just need to remember the road numbers to your destination.

Gasoline stand
There are a lots of gasoline stand along the road.The price is not fixed but it is about 85 cent per litre.The rule here is you have to pay before you can refill your tank.So just do the estimation.They will give you back the change when you are done.For 900 km ride i have refilled my tank in about 49 dollars.By the way I am using Toyota Yaris, automatic gear.

Be careful
Be careful especially during the holidays night since there are a lots of crazy drunk drivers.Avoid a late night drive if possible.

Over all,it was a nice experienced.I'm get used with the road within one day.And the most important thing:this is the easiest and cheapest way to move between cities since they didn't have cheap public transport between the city.

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