What do these video games have in common?
They are all based on driving in Costa Rica!
Honestly. Its true!!!
Driving here is quite different to driving anywhere else I have driven. It is certainly not for the faint-hearted.
For a passive, polite populace, Tico's are conspicuously aggressive drivers: they don't slow down when traffic is coming towards them. It is almost like they are too frightened to decelerate, or even stop and wait, just in case they are unable to get the car going again.
Lights. Brakes. Indicators. All standard in the UK, and most likely the rest of the world, but quite rare here in CR. If the vehicle has them, the driver does not know how and when to employ them.
Pedestrians rule the roads. Jay-walking is the norm.
Cyclists are second-in-command; riding three of four abreast, they are incapable of moving to the side to allow either oncoming or passing traffic to proceed. More often than not, there is usually a passenger sat on the handlebars too. Steering with one hand is not an uncommon sight either as quite often the cyclist will be chatting on their mobile phone; or during the heavy rainfalls, holding an umbrella aloft.
Dogs. Everywhere. Frequently sleeping in the middle of the street. And chickens too.
Motorbikes coming at you in all directions. Overtaking, undertaking whatever takes their fancy. Surprisingly, they all wear helmets and high-vis tags, but like cars, they don't all have lights!
Who needs the fairground when real-life dodgems are on your door-step?
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