Driving in St. Thomas

Most everyone knows that you drive on the left in the USVI, even though the steering wheels are also on the left, just like on the mainland. But that is the simply the most obvious of the differences - actually driving here shows attitudes that seem downright peculiar to us Dallas drivers.

First, except for right along the waterfront in the downtown area, most roads have only 2 lanes. Shoulders? No. Sidewalks? Rarely. One of the biggest mysteries to me is why there aren't more accidents between pedestrians and cars, because, despite the curves, hills & narrow roadways, many people do walk along the roads. Or they stand right at the road side "thumbing" (which consists of holding up an index finger) for a ride.

And that's another difference. The locals give rides to people who are standing by the road, especially if the driver has a pick-up. Before & after school, you'll see pick-ups carrying 6-8 uniformed young men in the truck bed. And the passengers are picked up and dropped off anywhere. The driver may pull to the side of the road, or he may not; he may just stop in the middle of the lane. Or someone may open a door & jump out while a car is stopped at an intersection, so it is really necessary to pay close attention all the time.

I guess that's one reason why the police here love to write tickets for drivers talking on their cell phones, tho hands-free is okay. They also write tickets for not wearing seat belts. Otherwise, traffic laws don't seem to be enforced. A car in front of you driving too slowly in a no passing zone? Pass anyway! Most drivers do stop for stop lights - after they've been red for a couple of cars - but even I've learned not to stop at stop signs if there aren't any cars coming ;)

There really aren't very many traffic signals once you are away from downtown. Since there are numerous driveways, either into businesses, homes or residential streets, traffic could back up a long distance while the leading car waited to turn right across traffic. No problem! Someone will always stop to let a car turn. And if you're waiting to pull out of one of those driveways? Still no problem! Another driver is going to stop to let you go - whichever direction you need to go. It's a way to keep traffic from backing up, and is a courtesy that could learned in other areas (Plano, for example.) The only problem with all this courtesy? You & the car in front of you may be the only two cars anywhere in sight on the road, but that car in front of you stops to let someone turn! Bob, in particular, gets frustrated with this, especially when he is heading to work.

If you are waiting to turn or to pull out and no one has stopped yet, you look for a small gap between the oncoming cars and just go. The top speed limit on the island is 35 mph, and it is usually 10 - 20 mph in busy areas. So, getting across the lane or into traffic is much easier than on most metroplex roads. It can take a while to get used to this: friends from McKinney were here on a cruise stop this week, and I picked them up and drove them to the beach and to lunch. I noticed more than one anxious expression as we traveled around :)

Then there are the safari taxis, which may be (or may not be!) VITran public transit. They are usually pick-up trucks in which the beds have been converted with covered bench seats and openings on the left side for passengers to slide in & out. Signs along the road ways designate the VITran stops - hahaha! They'll pull over almost anywhere to pick up or drop off passengers. If you're lucky, you'll be able to see a little way ahead along the road, and pass them while they're stopped. Otherwise, it's a slooooow trip ...

Road conditions and construction make driving interesting, too. Potholes, rough stretches, cracks, etc., seem to be permanent in some places. Drivers learn where they are and just drive into the other lane to avoid them. Sometimes, road crews actually work to repair the roads. Almost always, the newly repaired roads then need to be torn up to bury pipes under them. Months later, the repairs will be 90% complete ... months after that they will still be only 90% complete, and traffic will still be backing up as cars slowly cross the unfinished portion of the road.

There are also just miscellaneous slow downs, like the one Bob & I recently experienced. We were about 3 cars behind a safari taxi in the middle of a curve near the cruise ship dock - which on this day meant long lines of cars in both directions. Suddenly the safari taxi just stopped. We could see that there was an iguana standing in the road near the front tire. The taxi honked - the iguana didn't move. The taxi eased forward - the iguana didn't move. Finally, the driver got out and swung her purse toward the iguana - and it bolted up the hillside!

Slow travel does give one time to take pictures of interesting things, such as the home-made tailgate on a pick-up I was behind:

The license plates generally show which island a car was registered on:

This picture shows 3 cars that were parked together today. The license plate on the left one starts with a "J", for St. John. The center one starts with a "T", for St. Thomas, and the right one starts with a "C", for St. Croix.

Then there are just some generally interesting cars, like the "shark car" we saw parked at Trunk Bay:

I guess that's one way to make sure you don't lose your car in a parking lot!