Trinidad 2016
Port of Spain, Trinidad
August 2016
Hello from Port of Spain, Trinidad!
I’ve been to Trinidad on work related trips seven times since 2003. But this time someone made the mistake of giving me a company pool car to drive. Driving in Trinidad, a medium sized island in the Caribbean with substantial industry, can be challenging. They ignore signal lights, stop signs, other cars, and pedestrians. On the highways, lane changes can be epileptic. Speeds vary from “Autobahn” to “donkey cart”. OK, there were no actual donkey carts on the highway, like I have observed many times in Egypt, but there were frequent drivers driving like they had run out of gas climbing the last hill and were nearly out of incline. If I could sum the Trinidad driving environment up, I would say it is much, much better than either Houston or Dallas. But, they drive on the left side.
I am handed keys and I go to the car and circle around it to see if it has any damage that I can blame on previous drivers. None is observed, so I open the driver’s door and sit down. I am a skillfully trained auditor and I immediately observe that someone has removed the steering wheel. I wonder if it is one of those new-fangled Google cars that drive themselves. Oh well, not to worry, there is a spare steering wheel complete with pedals on the passenger seat. I simply walk around and sit down.
After I adjust the seat and mirrors, I signal to pull forward (most businesses in Trinidad post back-in parking only signs) into a left turn. The windshield wipers immediately spring into action. I slam on the brakes and look closer at the levers protruding from the steering wheel. Hmmm. Turn signals on the right and wipers/washer on the left. Exactly the opposite of my cars back home. I pull carefully out of the parking spot and turn directly into OH CRAP! – HEAD ON CARS. Wait! They drive on the left here - I swerve to the left and return the nice waves. (Everyone is so friendly here!) After a few miles, I start to get the feel of left side driving and my confidence starts building. Google informs me my turn is coming up on the left, so I turn my wipers on. I turn the wipers off and turn the left signal on. I skillfully execute a perfect left turn into the closest right lane - OH CRAP! NOT AGAIN - then swerve back to the left side.
They have well marked street signs in Trinidad. Three to be exact. But I was on the other 4,352 unmarked roads in route to a business I was visiting. Instructions are “…go until you see a red house across the street from a double vacant lot, then turn right.” I finally spot the red house on the right and flip the windshield washer on. I turn the washer off, then turn the wipers back on to un-smear the windshield. (I note that there must be some faulty wiring because it seems when the wipers or washer come on, honking always starts.) I get enough clear sight to flip the right turn signal on and make the turn, narrowly avoiding the head-on car idling in the right lane I was aiming for.
At one point it started to rain. It always rains in Trinidad. I signal a left turn. I then turn the left signal off and turn the windshield wipers on. By now, I’m thinking everything might make more sense if I drove in reverse. By the time I returned to the office two hours later, Google was hoarse from saying “recalculating”. Could have been a low battery. Or a bad attitude.
So, after navigating around Port of Spain for several miles, or kilograms, (Or is that Celsius – whichever - it is metric here) I returned to the parking garage. (I pronounce it “ge-rage” with the first “e” and “a” both long. If I’m going to drive like a Brit, I’m going to sound like a Brit!) And drove right into a support column, breaking the headlight, the turn signal, the bumper guard, the left front fender and any remaining pride. The column was clearly in the left lane, so it must have been American. Unfortunately, it did not have any insurance, nor would it admit fault. It is difficult to judge position of the car in the lane from the passenger seat when the vantage point has been from the left driver’s seat for over 40 years! But, I point out I had a perfect left side driving record for nearly 2 hours and made a lot of friends based on the number of waves I got. And I don’t even need that left turn signal anyway. Most people on the island know by now that I just use the wipers to signal my intent to turn left. The washer is a right turn.
This is not my first time to drive on the left side of the road. I have driven on the left while vacationing in St. Croix, and a couple of times in Aberdeen, Scotland. Where I drove very successfully. To a petrol station where I put gasoline into a diesel engine car. You would think that would improve performance, but as the tow-truck driver said three hours later when he finally located me in the Scottish countryside, “No.”
I hope this finds you well and not stuck in traffic. On the left side of the road. With your wipers on.
All the best,
Keith