Puerto Rican Driving is Insane

The car horn is used a little differently in Puerto Rico than in the States. We would most likely use the horn if someone where to pull out in front of us, cut us off, or almost hit us. Makes sense right? Not to a Puerto Rican. This type of driving is fine and acceptable. No joke. Puerto Ricans use the horn at exactly the same time the light turns green just to make sure that you are aware that it changed. They will also use it when they get tired of waiting. At a long light, truck drivers love to hold down the horn just to show you that they are bored and impatient.

Their driving mannerisms are also different. Since the traffic is so bad here, bad driving is acceptable because you would never be able to get anywhere if you drove politely. To give you some examples:

If you have to cross an intersection with heavy traffic and no light, you just keep inching your way out until you stop traffic. All of the cars behind you will follow. This whole cycle repeats for the traffic that you stopped. So they can get going again, they will have to keep inching out until the intersecting traffic can not budge.

If some one has a chance to pull out in front of you, they will. Again, their driving might not be courteous driving to you or I, but they have to do drive like that and don’t think their actions are inconsiderate.

At an intersection with a traffic light, when the light turns green Puerto Ricans will go through the intersection extremely slow. I haven’t figured out why yet. I think it is possibly to watch for people running a red light. The best way I can describe their speed that they go through the lights so you might understand is to compare with people ages in the States. When the light changes and a person in their teens through thirties is in the lead, he will haul ass through the light. A person in their forties to sixties will go along at an average speed, and usually an older person in their seventies to nineties will go through the intersection at a crawl. It seems the average Puerto Rican goes through like an old timer. Of course there are exceptions. And that Puerto Rican who is an exception knows how slow everyone is and loves to take advantage of everyones tardiness. They will get in the wrong lane. When the light changes, they zoom off to beat everyone.