And even seeing the edge does not help often. We were there some years
ago, driving from one end of the island out to the other, over a ridge
with a sharp drop of maybe 300ft on the inbound side, and there was a
little circus there trying to recover 2 (!!) cars that were down in the
brush about 150ft. down the hillside. We stopped to see if anyone was
hurt, and the guys were sort of amazed anyone cared -- apparently it was
a fairly common occurrence at that point in the road, and they just
dealt with it. One said both drivers been drunk the night before and
just drove over the edge and rolled a few times down the hillside,
without significant damage to the drivers. The cars were a bit crunched
but not too bad. No problem mon.
We did have various goats, donkeys, chickens and other wildlife to dodge
as we drove around, you go around a sharp curve and a whole flock (or
whatever they are called) of goats would be in the road, just standing
there for no apparent reason, and they did not give way too easily.
You gotta love tropical countries.
--R
ernest breakfield wrote:
yep; even though there's not a speed limit on the islands over 30 or
so and there isn't much opportunity for any passing, there seem to be
an inordinately high percentage of cars with bashed up right sides...
stories of how this driving style came to be there vary; the cute
one they tell visitors is that this makes it possible to hold hands
with a friend who is walking down the road while they drive. the more
practical reason might be that many roads in the islands are so twisty
and the storms that pass through there so incredibly torrential that
the only way they can drive at times is to be able to see the edge of
the road/cliff out the window of the side the driver is sitting on.
cheers!
e
Wilton Strickland wrote:
Scary!! So, when trying to pass, driver can expose a LOT of car to the
other lane before the driver can see that the passing lane is free, or
NOT!!!! 'Sounds more like "drive by feel." "Well, if all of that large
part of the car sticking out there has [not] been hit by now, I quess
it's OK to
go ahead." Real smart. ;<))))))
Wilton
----- Original Message -----
From: "ernest breakfield" <erne...@backyardengineering.org>
To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 12:13 AM
Subject: Re: [MBZ] Serious injuries only please/Swedish traffic
that's the way it works in the US Virgin Islands now; Amerikun-style
cars driven on the left side of the road.
cheers!
e
n
Wilton Strickland wrote:
So, Sweden switched from left hand traffic (LHT) to right had traffic
(RHT)
in 1967, but even with LHT, many (maybe most) cars were driven from
the
eft - left hand drive (LHD). Most drivers, then, were already
positioned
on the left side of the car for better/safer operation in RHT.
Wilton
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