Chile Forum

RWS wrote:At least there are no hills in Cairo!

Canals on the outskirts though! Some body has to end up in the drink when vehicles overtaking in both directions alongside the canal meet in the middle.

Chilean drivers are very impatient and self important.
Local bus drivers compete for passengers, sometimes quite aggressively.
My wife's uncle's father-in-law was run over and killed by a local bus in Lota. He was on the sidewalk! The bus was attempting to go around traffic.
My mother in law lived on a corner in Concepcion where T-Bone crashes were the norm.

Hi!

Been on and off in Chile since 2002 and have driven over 100tkm in this strange country. In general for me the traffic is "normal". Driving last year in Portugal was much more dangerous. At least in Chile people use their driving lights compared to Portugal where you suddenly get a pleasent suprise when in the evening and in pouring rain some wannabee racing driver come towards you without any lights. Different parts and towns have their on little quirks. For example it seems that in Curico for some reason pedestrians have much more right of way than elsewhere. I understand that very few chileans have proper insurance on their
cars so that is why they do try to drive a bit more carefully than here in Finland where you only think who has ther right of way and thats it. One thing which sometimes scares me when driving in the evening or night are the locos on their bicycles. They dont have any lights and can be driving in the center of the road. Even if you are driving at a modest speed and hit one of these crazys, you'll most likely end up going to court and paying. I have had an accident once (where actualmente I was responable ) and that got sorted out well. Police came, of course. went to the station, filled out the paperwork, contacted the insurance company and that was it.

I have to agree with a number of points in the last message. Apart from the obvious odd fool with a death wish, in general the drivers are not too dangerous. Cairo, Manila and Italy I have found to be far worse. My only reel beaf with the drivers here as with the pedestrians is they fail to have any courtesy towards other drivers or pedestrians. You have to learn to dodge, weave and drive around. Something I am getting use to and find myself using less and less "Aussie Road Slang" each time I get on the road. Now I just say "God bless em". after all, I'm on their road.

mardy wrote:. . . . My only reel beaf with the drivers here as with the pedestrians is they fail to have any courtesy towards other drivers or pedestrians. You have to learn to dodge, weave and drive around. . . .

To generalize, this self-centeredness seems to exist in all latinate lands. I think it arises from a perpetual immaturity, fostered by paternal governmental and religious systems which fail to allow (let alone, encourage) their citizens to take responsibility for their own actions. What it does encourage is regrettable: schemes to evade the invasive control of these institutions through non-payment of taxes, other corruption, and a pervasive dishonesty.

Thank goodness that there's so much appealing about Chile to balance against this.

RWS wrote:To generalize, this self-centeredness seems to exist in all latinate lands. I think it arises from a perpetual immaturity, fostered by paternal governmental and religious systems which fail to allow (let alone, encourage) their citizens to take responsibility for their own actions. What it does encourage is regrettable: schemes to evade the invasive control of these institutions through non-payment of taxes, other corruption, and a pervasive dishonesty.

Thank goodness that there's so much appealing about Chile to balance against this.

I think in Chile a part of this is the same as is here in Finland. Many people have rural backgrounds and in the campo you dont have to look around or give way to somebody. When drive inthe smaller roads you can see there are not many cars. If they see somebody its most likely a person they know, so they will stop in the center of the road or wherever to talk.

Here once and old man driving in the back streets of the countryside was asked why he did not use his turn signal when turning and was nearly hit. He replied "Why should I?! Everybody knows I live here and I always turn here!!!"

One thing wich really increases my girflfriends (Chilena) blood pressure is when I am stopped by the carabinero amigos. They look at my drivers licence and start only asking about where I am from and never see a licence like this before.On the other hand when she is stopped for speeding...... well you can guess

Gringo Pillo, that happened to me once when I got stopped for speeding. I think they could not enter my license number into their system because it had a mix of letters and numbers and a different number of digits than a RUT number. They let me go with a warning, according to them, so I would have a good opinion of the Caribineros, but I think it was more because they didn't know what to do. Unfortunately, now I have a Chilean license, so I assume I won't get special treatment if I get stopped again.

My husband drove in the lakes district in Februrary. The biggest challenge was our lack of ability to speak Spanish and having to guess at the road signs. Still, all went well and we had a grand time. Next time we won't rent, we'll bus.

Hey speaking of road signs.... Is it just me or do they always seem to put signs on or just after the cross road.. I've missed so many turnoffs. That's if there is a sign. Maybe I was just going too fast.. I've had directions from people to go straight up the road and when you come to a T turn right. Accept along the way there was 3 Y intersections, a roundabout and God knows what else... . Oh well "God bless em" they were trying to help...

Driving in Chile is definitely something you have to get used to. You learn that even when you stop for directions, people will not always lead you in the right direction. Maps typically have wrong road names or are just missing some roads completely. Just gotta relax and try to forget about how much time you waste trying to get around.

For me worse than driving, is the parking. Apart from the lack of parking, the safety of your parked car is likely not very secure, unless you're actually parked inside your garage.
Out of 2 cars during the last 5 years, I've had the logos stolen several times, including last night when I had just said the day before to my husband how lucky I had been with this car because after having it more than a year, it still had it's original logos. Spoke too soon!! Parked right outside my in-law's house in the middle of the afternoon, both logos were taken and surely were sold at the persa one block from their house to some other resident of the same area who had theirs stolen the week before. Now I've got to buy new ones, but I'm gonna buy of course the plastic copies that cost like $5.000, and I'm gonna break them in half first and then stick them on there...at least if they try to steal them again, they won't get any use from them! Ha! That's my revenge on those mangy thieves!

Interesting report on the morning TV (UC), "Locos al Volante", which gave a nice resumé of how people drive in Santiago. Interviews with some of the survivors demonstrated the usual "passive agression" I see on the roads (i.e. "it wasn't me, it was my car...") .

Looks like Chile is introducing some kind of points system like several Euro countries use.

If you think Chile is bad, try Lima, Peru. Every intersection is a negotiation!