The traffic "chaos" is 99% of the time by the fact most drivers have no idea of how to follow the road rules.. a complete lack of common courtesy and knowing that even if they are braking the law nothing will be done about it.

Remember less than 3% of traffic fines are EVER paid!

One of my favorite analogies regarding how Dominicans drive:

Imagine a shoe box with a small hole cut out at the bottom. Pour some sugar on the inside of the box near the hole. Now put 10,000 ants directly outside the shoe box. Can you imagine the ants making an orderly line to enter the box, or do you think they will bang into and climb all over each other in an effort to get what they want and to get there ahead of the other ants.

Just substitute a traffic merge for the box and Dominicans for the ants.

Same result.

Do you want better traffic in Santo Domingo?
it's easy...
Get Leonel 4 years and he will take care of everything!

I thought the USELESS METRO had solved this!

That was the funniest joke I have heard all day, Vik

Get Leonel 4 years and he will take care of everything!== Right, give him 3 years in jail and than house arrest for life! Or hang him!

First thing the must teach is patience, they will get there in due time.

The second thing is teach them red , yellow and green lights are not Christmas decorations.

Third thing is have the traffic police start writing tickets and confiscating vehicles that are dangerous

. My first visit to Santo Domingo was a eye opener with crazy driving, then we got behind a smoker of a diesel truck that actually put up a better smoke screen that the military. No one could see a thing yet everyone was hell bent driving trying to beat each other home.

Up north the motorcycles are the worst they come out of the side streets without even looking.

Get the Police on the streets with tickets that carry hefty fines and when they are not paid confiscate the vehicles and that will do more for the country than any act of congress.

The simple solution to traffic chaos is suspend all licenses.

Stillhere- that post is right on.

I don't understand WHY DT keep hiring these alnafabeto: What in heck is Contress

You mean Congress, you moron....." Bill in Contress aims to halt traffic chaos" Used a freaking translator, no wonder we are exporting teacher from others countries, we cant even type correctly.

Give tickets with a due time of payment or vehicle will be impounded. Demerits points in the license 9 limit. Take a test before renewal every 5 years. Get rid of the corrupted AMET that all you need to do is give them for a beer and you free to go..

a major problem is the silly people from AMET who override the traffic lights and the other main problems are the taxis publicos who should never be permitted to drop off or accept passengers at corners

the article says

"We feel that we must begin to create a new generation of citizens with more education and awareness on the transit."

a new generation with education on transit? you mean there is an old generation? when did they die off? surely, they have been extinct for at least a century.

How about enforcing the traffic laws first. I'v seen drivers drinking while driving, crossing red lights in front of police officers and my favourite failing to yield and cutting off emergency vehicles with lights and siren blaring.

I got yelled at by several drivers once for pulling over and giving an ambulance the right of way in down town Santo Domingo. I remember yelling back louder...what if that was your loved one being rushed to the hospital.

Here is another "achievement" of Narco Lie-onel and the PLD:


Dominican Republic tops death list

The 2012 edition of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) Health in the Americas report includes a list of traffic accident-related deaths, topped by the Dominican Republic, with 32.2 traffic-related deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.

However, the new Law for Traffic and Transport, which will be reintroduced into Congress during the next session, will include a 20-point credit on each license that will reduce with each traffic violation.

The license can then be cancelled for six months, one and two years or even permanently. It is even proposed to impose exit bans on drivers who do not pay their fines.

The new proposals will replace the existing law, which dates back to 1967.

eldia.com.do/nacionales/2013/2/6/106311/Ley-de-Transito-cancelara-las-licencias-a-reincidentes-faltas

iede.co.uk/news/2013_865/death-speeding-down-el-salvador%E2%80%99s-roads

sweetbabyj, observers
"Up north the motorcycles are the worst they come out of the side streets without even looking."
That's because no matter what what the road-rules state, motorcycles have right-of-way. Get involved in a collision with one, then regardless of the law, you will pay for everything.

Josean ..wake up Dominicans have disobeyed all laws since Trujillo died and they discovered freedom from a dictatorship...The DR has had the same personality way before LF , the big difference is that the drug trade has grown because of the increasing use of drugs by Americans and to a lesser extent Europeans and so crime has increased

Y'all don't understand traffic protocol in DR!

Isn't it obvious that a RED light means: "I'm late, can't sit here waiting", a GREEN, means "I better run like the Devil, or I'll get stuck at another red light", and a YELLOW, means "I can still make it across to the other side". ?

If that's a little too weird for you, take it up with “Contress.”

From a commenter in Hoy.com

" You do not spend more money on it, this country has bottomed out and no way to fix the problem, the first thing is that people are not afraid of losing their licenses because that is of no consequence to them, the second is that they can buy (another one) and that's not a secret to anyone. In a country where everyone is complicit in corruption, (it) cannot change a culture of lawlessness and anarchy.
It’s only a law since neither the legislators themselves will have to comply (with it). Do not spend more money on nonsense. Our Serengeti is worse than (this) most extensive savanna (in) Africa, because not only (does it) benefit the strongest but that corruption adds an element nonexistent among animals that we Dominicans have in abundance..."

Won't happen, ever, not here.....chaos is the DR, controlled chaos.
Nice words....no action......next!!! proposal coming manana.

All societies if left to themselves, will violate the law.

There needs to be laws, and methods of implementing coercion.

The main problem here is a government that is permissible, indolent and corrupt.

This proposal would only work if the police is held accountable, bribes and traffic of influence avoided.

rokete

Thank you......finally someone that makes common sense.

Any plan that doesn't include a total ban on public cars and require that all motor vehicles (ahem, motorcycles) obey the traffic laws is doomed for failure. Place 10,000 more police officers on the streets, impound all cars whose drivers have no license, require vehicle inspections. The list is endless and therefore hopeless.

whipmeco, it is important that you mention motorcycles in your statement. funnily, in the DR, it appears that a motorcycle is not considered to be a vehicle. riders routinely go through red lights, and stop signs, and drive the wrong way down one way streets, and go through NO ENTRY signs. i have seen a motorcycle in Santiago going the wrong direction on a divided highway. it would be an impossible dream trying to educate operators of motorcycles to obey road traffic laws. the anarchy is too deeply ingrained. when you cannot get a person to respect his own safety, by simply wearing a helmet, do you think he is going to respect the lives of others? i think not. look at passolas. anybody can just go to a store, buy one, and get on it. no test for proficiency. you have 14 year old kids riding them on the main thoroughfares. it is beyond hopeless. it cannot be fixed. not in this century.

Right on all counts, Whipmeco.
The sensible solution is obvious: Simply, build more mass transit projects.

A few more Metro lines in SD.
Trolleys in Santiago, La Vega, San Francisco, and other bigger cities.
Rail lines across from SD to Puerto Plata, and from Montecrist to Samana, connecting in Santiago.
Build more, better highways, etc.

This will not totally solve, but will greatly help in improving transport everywhere.
( Not to mention, a huge savings in Petrodollars!).

Choo, choo train, Danny'O?

i am on board with you on one main score , Ron. the first thing that should have been started is a rail link from Santo Domingo to Santiago, for passengers and freight. i just think that the truckers' unions would never have allowed it to happen.

Dready,
Helmets and seat-belts are useless. Jesus decides when your time is up.

I was pulled up by a cop while driving past San Cristobal police station. As he was writing my ticket for not carrying my ID, many motorbikes went past without headlights or helmets, some with 3 kids on board. When he noticed my wife's lab-coat and stethoscope in the back, asked if she was a doctor. Then while tearing up the ticket, he explained they don't book doctors, lawyers or other cops.

Really, Roy?!

That's cool, man. Maybe I'll carry along a skeleton, a real one, sitting in the back seat, and wearing a hat and speedos and a T-shirt that says "I lost weight, ask me how" and see what happens! Would they think I'm some kind of doctor, a witch doctor? ...or, an insane criminal, bent on stripping the flesh off of his victims!?..hahaha! That'd be something, eh?....aaah, I'm so funny!