It was an ordinary day. Heading back home for the day. Headed down the hill, reached the entrance to the villa, pulled off to the right trying not to scrape the bottom of the car on the concrete drive, pulled about 15 feet up the driveway, put my key fob on the gate release, waited for the large gate to open, and slowly accelerated up the steep incline to the villa. Sounds pretty easy, and if you do everything just right, it is easy. But, if you push down too hard on the gas, the wheels start spinning. That's the reason for all the black rubber that I left on the driveway ramp during our vacation. A little bit of rain will make the concrete like
ice and the almost bald tires of the rental car have no traction. Other than getting into and out of the villa, I enjoy driving on St. Martin. There is essentially one main road around the entire island with a road down the middle. Feeder roads lead off the main road that take you to smaller towns and developments. Sure, there are lots of hills to navigate, but there is only one (1) traffic light on the entire island. There are zillions of speed bumps, most not painted that you can see them. Some are identified with a sign, but most are learned by driving the same road numerous times and hitting your head on the roof of the car their first time you encounter one. Quite a few intersections on the island are controlled with the traffic circle. Why we don't have more of those in the USA is a mystery to me. Really keeps the flow of traffic moving. Someone started a thread on my favorite island forum titled
"Driving in SXM" and some of the responses are: I'm glad we decided to arrive during the day than in the evening, otherwise I don't know where I will end up at; Driving is a zoo on the island; There are lots of people that refuse to drive on SXM and I don't blame them with all the pot holes, narrow streets, and locals stopping right in the middle of the road to talk to a friend. Now for every negative response, there wereat least three positive ones. Such as: Love to drive SXM ..... such an adventure; Some of the best finds we found while driving lost; The only way to really learn the island is to drive it; I love driving on the island .... gives me
a chance to constantly honk the horn. Now that last comment was from yours truly. Once you learn the traffic signs in both Dutch and French, you got it made. Speed limits are listed in kilometers per hour and the fastest speed limit sign I have seen on the island is 90 kph which translates to about 56 mph. Traffic at certain times of the day is heavy, just the same as here in the USA. About the only thing I have trouble
with are the suicidcylists (my own description) that travel in the middle of the road and pass
you at tremendous speeds, even with a passenger and traffic coming the opposite direction. Can't imagine why more are killed. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - pix from the top are: coming down the road to enter the villa which is on the bottom right of the photo where the wall is being rebuilt (Wasn't me!), stopping for opening the gate, one of the hundreds of steep hills on the island, one of four border signs that take you from the French side to the Dutch side, one of the suicidcylists that just passed us a second ago. Below you will find some of the different signs that are used on both sides of the island.The only stop light on the island
Pedestrian Crossing and single speed bump
Double speed bump
Yield in French
Signaling do not enter or no exit
Sign showing how many roads lead off of the traffic circle
Speed limit sign
No comments:
Post a Comment