Traffic Advisory by Constance Monroe - SRS-CR: Summerland Relocation Services

Recently there have been a lot of roadworks in Perez Zeledon. As in every other part of the world what this means is: traffic. Because so many roads in Perez Zeledon are only 2-lane roads the traffic usually consists of one side of the traffic being stopped completely until enough traffic builds up on the other side and then they take turns letting each side continue onto the road. This has been happening for the last several months on the Inter-Americana from just outside San Isidro all the way through to the beach road to Platanillo which eventually goes down to Dominical.

This is good news though because the roads are slowly appearing with lines on them along with cat eyes for better vision at night. There are also often arrows illustrating where turn-offs are available. As a result, it is important to follow the rules that come with these lines. So for example, if there is a double line you should obey it. If you are pulled over for disobeying it, you can be heavily fined; we have heard of fines as large as 51,000 colones. In an effort to ensure that these fines are paid quickly and in full the police have been known to take the license plates off of the car in question. We have been told that if the payment is delayed your plates will sent to San Jose which is where they must to be retrieved. To avoid this happening, make your payment as quickly as possible at BCR, take your reteve and marchamo to Cosevi and retrieve your plates.

Coming from New Jersey, I’ve often thought how laid back the police are here in Costa Rica; perhaps even that they didn’t pay attention to people obeying the average traffic laws. This is not true. While I come from an area of New Jersey where it is probably over-policed, that doesn’t’ necessarily mean that the police here aren’t paying attention.

A perfect example happened to me a year ago when just outside of San Isidro I was filling my gas tank at Gasoy Tica. Pulling out and up the hill I found myself behind a very old and slow farmer’s truck so I immediately passed him on the double line. There was a policeman pulled over and he waved me over to him. Basically, he told me that he saw I passed on a double line and asked me if I was aware that the double line means no overtaking. All of a sudden I found that whatever conversational Spanish I know was escaping me. I think the only reason he didn’t give me a ticket is because he mistook my mumbling for how sorry I was. I was completely prepared for a ticket but thankfully it never came to that.