Driving on the Abacos

[AA3JY]

Are all the major Abaco Cays with roads drive on the left side? Currently in Green Turtle Cay and have to get used to driving(riding on the wrong side) of the road. :>


Clay AA3JY
s/v Tango

[faragaki]

Former British colony, they all drive on the left. Most car rental agency’s rent cars with the steering wheel on the left, typical of American cars. Good luck passing…

Jeff

[hpeer]

Working our way through the Bahamas and now the Caribbean islands you bounce left to right to back. The only type of configuration is a manual transmission on and English Road with right hand drive. Lots of Japanese cars with radios in that funny language.

For some reason round shouts gave me a lot of trouble, was very hard for me to give appropriate right of way.

Back in the states one dark night I turned onto an empty unlit country road and had to almost stop to figure out which side I was suppose to be on. No external clues. Fun times.

[denverd0n]

As international travel becomes more and more common, it does seem to me like this is something the whole world should standardize on. That, and the metric system for measurements.


Yeah, I know. I was one of those who didn't like it when Jimmy Carter tried to get the U.S. to convert to metric. But I was young and stupid at the time (a redundant phrase, if ever there was one). I realize now that so many things would be so much easier if the whole world used one system of measurement.

[Pete17C]

the UK still uses 'miles' on the roadways, not KMs

only issue I had was after pulling a 3 point U turn (driving in unfamiliar territory, this happens often) I'd invariable start out in the wrong lane, until the oncoming traffic made it obvious I was

/hands waving
//horns honking
///me smiling, waving back (hey, I'm on vacation, no reason to get uptight)

[GordMay]

One of the hazards of walking in Nassau, Bahamas, was always looking left prior to stepping off a curb. Ofttimes, but not always, cars (coming from our right) would stop for us, letting us safely cross the street.

[hpeer]

In PR last year, Ponce, there we very few operational traffic lights. Yet folks seemed to get around OK. Same down Islands, things are relaxed compared to the states, but it works. Maybe because anyone not paying attention ends up in a concrete ditch pretty quick.

Then again, if you think about driving in the states it’s totally bonkers. Go to Home Depot and they have all kinds of conniptions to move a fork lift: flashing lights, buzzers, Gates, flagmen. Yet we boast about on the roads at incredible speed simply trueing that others will stay in their lane, sometimes despite evidence to the contrary (cell phones, lip stick, quarterly reports.). Amazing.

[Boatwright]

For those of us who learned to drive on the right, safe driving in the "sun never sets" parts of the world requires TWO:

1) The Driver
2) The Passenger who's job it is to say "keep left" in all situations.

We just returned from several weeks on Abaco. Increasingly rental cars in the Bahamas are coming direct from Japan with right-hand drive standard. Having the wheel on the wrong side does help.

Recommendations:

Always reliable Ornald Cornish will meet you at the Green Turtle Ferry with a very reasonably priced car. If you want to run down to Marsh Harbor for a flight or to go on a provisioning trip it's the least expensive way to go. Mr. Cornish will do a one-way rental to the airport. You can also rent for an 8 hour day. His office is at the Treasure Cay Airport on Abaco very close to the GT Cay ferry dock.

Cornish Car Rental: (242) 365-8623

Cheapest Fuel (boats and cars) at the tanker terminal at Treasure Cay.

Maxwell's is the big supermarket in M.H.

[Pete17C]

Originally Posted by GordMay

One of the hazards of walking in Nassau, Bahamas, was always looking left prior to stepping off a curb. Ofttimes, but not always, cars (coming from our right) would stop for us, letting us safely cross the street.

they got this figured out in London

[jmschmidt]

What a mess. The entire Caribbean is a mishmash of both left-hand and right-hand drive cars on either side for the road. Puerto Rico seems to be the only reasonably sane exception.

I've driven thousands on miles in the UK, Ireland and Australia with right-hand drive cars without problems and millions of miles in the US, Mexico, Canada and on the continent also without problems. Forty years ago the Caribbean was reasonable standardized but no more. Recently I was in the BVI riding in a Japanese car (in Japan they drive on the left) but it had left-hand drive, built in Mexico for the US market I supposed, but why not just send their domestic cars to the Caribbean? Go figure.

[captnknopf]

Hi
The question was about the Abacos. Most of the out islands just use golf carts and the roads are only wide ehough for one. There are passing areas and one way roads, but it is nothing like driving any where else. If you rent a car in Marsh Harbor or West end then it becomes more important which side you drive on, and it is the Left. This means when walking, walk on the right side of the road..

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by AA3JY

Are all the major Abaco Cays with roads drive on the left side? Currently in Green Turtle Cay and have to get used to driving(riding on the wrong side) of the road. :>


Clay AA3JY
s/v Tango

On GT we walk. I can't imagine were you'd drive to.

[phorvati]

Same in Turks and Caicos. Try driving around a busy rotary with an american minivan full of cruisers. Everyone screaming at me where to go at once. If I lived through that, everything else is a piece of cake.