Chile Forum

yea, we have some reports lately that the police are starting to give Breathalyzers as standard practice along with asking for your insurance papers and registeration with standard random traffic stops.

What you see in certain rural parts of Chile that is almost more dangerous than the guy behind the wheel (less wheels) is the drunk in the road at 2 am trying to walk home. You pop around a corner at 60 km an hour on an otherwise empty road, and there is a guy stumbling all over the road. The closer you are to a poor town, the more likly to encounter that.

I discovered quickly the adventure of driving in Chile, as the first thing I ever did was jump into a rental car and drive through Santiago from the airport. Let's forget about the really bad GPS map I have, but I don't think Chileans are bad drivers, just rude and inconsiderate drivers. The one thing that really has to stop is all that *&%&ing horn-honking! I did notice thought that the rudeness only seems to applly in cities where traffic is bad. Along Ruta 5, Ruta 68 and major highway things are fairly nice. Then there was the time a clown decided to jump under my front wheels but that's another story.

Crazy? I was surprised at how WELL everyone drove there. When I lived in Guatemala and visited the DR, that was a rush. I returned home and told my wife, WOW! They almost drive normal (realitively speaking)! I said, their cars look so nice with little to no dents! I still don't think my wife will want to drive there though...at least until she adapts and we bet a tank.

Welcome to Chile all