A Primer on Driving in Jamaica

The purpose of this blog is to give others the benefit of my experience when I drove primary, secondary and the worst imaginable roadways in the western end of the island, through the parishes of Trelawny, St. James, Hanover, Westmoreland and St Elizabeth.

Before I delve into the physical aspects and mentality of Jamaican motorists let me caution you that you need to be confident in your driving skills – if you are not a skillful driver with many years experience driving a variety of roads you should probably not drive in Jamaica upon your first visit.

First off, driving in Jamaica is on the left side of the road and almost all the vehicles are right-hand drive. I found driving on the left side of the roadway in a right-hand drive car is not all that difficult, as right-hand drive orients you to the left side of the roadway. Just remember this saying: “Passenger to the curb.” The most difficult aspects of the transition to right-hand drive are the rearview mirror location and the reversal of the signal and wiper switches on the steering column - a few times I turned on the wipers when I meant to signal.

Rules of the road and local motoring etiquette are different from other locales. Jamaicans are very expressive with their horns. Polite beeps (a couple of taps) can mean “Hello!”, "Thank You!”, “Pay Attention!” or “Let me pass!” Angry beeps or beeps expressing annoyance are longer and can mean you’re taking too long to react to a green light, make a turn or you’re blocking traffic. Drivers will also use it to let you know you’ve been rude or inattentive to them. And honks can serve as a warning such as going the wrong way on a one-way street. The horn is a form of communication, so please do not get angry or take offense when you hear someone honking at you.

With the exception of a couple of sections of A1 where there are four lanes, all the roadways in western Jamaica are two lanes. As mentioned earlier there are many different types of roadways in Jamaica. Primary roadways such as the A1 from Ocho Rios to Negril are in the best condition of all roads – there are a few rough sections through the various towns but otherwise it is easily navigable by any vehicle you choose to rent. The A2 along the south coast which is also a primary roadway is not particularly bad but there are some spots where you must drive cautiously to avoid major potholes – a local woman described it as “a little rocky in spots.” Passing other vehicles on the two lane sections requires you to pull out into the oncoming lane. Give yourself lots of space/time to pass and never cross a solid white line in attempt to pass. Bear in mind that along the four lane sections of the A1, the right lane is to be used only for passing. I found the biggest hazard on these roads was oncoming drivers overtaking/passing other vehicles along the two lane sections as they weren’t always allowing enough space or time to do so. Faced with a situation like this, it is best to slow down and move to outside of your lane to create some extra space in the roadway and give the oncoming driver more time to complete his maneuver. 

Driving the secondary roadways through the mountains is much more challenging as it requires you to be very focused on your driving and the roadway – DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE ROAD.  The winding roads change quickly, are narrow and hold many hazards such as blind curves where you can chance upon dogs, goats and people in the roadway. It is not for the faint of heart – crumbling curb walls and corroded roadbeds with crater-sized potholes are the norm here – you must constantly scan the road ahead for these as you could easily blow a tire if you hit one of them hard. Pay attention to traffic ahead of you – if they seem to be slowing for no particular reason it is likely they are negotiating a rough section of the road. Another telltale sign of a bad section is when you see other drivers weaving down the roadway. You will also find it to be rather slow going at times when you are negotiating tight bends  – the basic rule of thumb for these is to be able to come to a complete stop within the amount of roadway that is visible to you. It is very dangerous to speed on sections that wind through the hills as you never know what’s around the next bend, which is why I implore you to use your horn to let others know you’re coming. Just a few beeps at regular intervals as you round the blind curves. I’ve never used the horn so much in my life as I did when driving through Cockpit Country from Clark’s Town to Albert Town, but it saved us from hitting a dog at one point during our journey.

Like every other country in the world Jamaica has good drivers, crazy drivers, bad drivers and downright dangerous drivers. Good drivers signal right when moving to pass on the two lane roadways and they will beep to warn other drivers of their presence when passing multiple vehicles. They will also pull over to let you pass when driving the mountain roadways and they are slowing you down. The crazy drivers are usually people who make their living plying the routes as their pay is relative to the number of trips they make - in most cases these will be route taxi drivers. They drive very fast but, next to the truck drivers, are probably the best drivers on the road. I made a practice of letting them pass me and even signaled them at times to let them know they can pass as I knew I was slowing them down and I hate it when someone is tailing me. Bad drivers are most often encountered on the primary roadways – these drivers just take their own sweet time and seem completely oblivious to the traffic that is backing up behind them. They also neglect to use their turn signals so you never know what they're going to do. Dangerous drivers are the ones who routinely perform high-risk maneuvers such as unsafe merges and passes – mostly pro drivers and in particular I found most often it was the mini-bus drivers who were guilty of these infractions. On the secondary roads, you will also encounter oncoming vehicles, at least from my own perspective, that do not move over enough to allow both vehicles room to pass comfortably – they tend to hog the middle of the roadway as this is where there are the fewest potholes. Worst case scenario: you may have to come to a complete stop as you pull a bit to the side, but do not veer off the roadway as you could end up in a ditch or worse. Most dangerous of all are the drivers who speed along the mountain roads as they also tend to drive near the middle of the lane and can startle you as they whiz past in the opposite direction.

Courteous driving is very important in Jamaica – there are relatively few roadways so everyone has to share and share alike. I suggest you be super-courteous, especially when passing through towns – you will have to slow to a crawl to allow foot traffic, bicycle traffic, animals and push carts to make use of the roadways – crossing in front, around and behind as you drive. These slowdowns are short lived as most towns are quite small and they are rather interesting as you get to see Jamaicans going about their daily business.

Traversing the bad sections of the roadways is a skill unto itself. Some are so bad that you have to slow to a crawl, whereas others may require you to only slow enough to dodge and weave past the worst of it. It is a judgement call but be careful in your approach.

My personal driving style is very assertive. I will speed where I can but never excessively and I am not afraid to overtake cars on the 2 lane roadways, but do so only when it is safe. I scan the roads for hazards but it is not always possible to notice them in time so I am very quick to hit the brakes whenever I feel it is necessary – drivers in JA don’t tailgate on secondary roads so I had no fear of someone rear-ending me when I was forced to come to a sudden stop or slow very quickly. I also needed to be a little creative in my driving to navigate the rough patches – sometimes driving in the right lane to avoid the potholes without slowing too much.

General advice:

• Be sure to purchase liability insurance, in addition to the Collision Damage Waiver (CDW). If you use a credit card (CC) to rent, depending on the card, the CDW may be covered, but no card will cover you for liability and given the numerous hazards it is better to be safe than sorry. If you decide to use a CC that covers the CDW check to ensure it provides coverage for Jamaica – many do not.
• Get a good map or rent a GPS – JAMNAV is the Jamaican GPS map which is updated regularly. I prefer a map so I purchased one from the rental agency.
• Safety first. Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the locations of all the controls in your vehicle before you start driving. 
• Make a practice of using your signals as much as possible in order to become accustomed to locating the switch on the right side of the steering column.  (Using your signals at all times is a good habit which should be practiced no matter where you drive.)
• Where possible, to help acclimatize yourself to driving on the left side of the road, practice scanning your mirrors as you drive.
• Know where you’re going before you start out.
• Do not be afraid to stop people to ask for directions – Jamaicans know the roads very well and will be able to get you pointed in the right direction. Throughout my travels I must have asked 30 or more people for directions, not because I was hopelessly lost or anything but simply to confirm I was on the right road. Invariably the people we stopped gave us good directions or “showed us some love” as one Rasta put it. Be cordial when stopping people – good manners show respect. (We should all have respect for each other no matter our stations in life.)
• When you encounter a roundabout, if you are unsure as to which exit to take, keep circling to find the sign. If there’s no sign take your best guess then stop to ask for directions – do not continue blindly down any road – you never know where you could end up.
• Avoid driving any roads except the primaries after dark.
• If an oncoming vehicle flashes its' lights it is to warn you that there are police ahead. (Once you have passed the police you can similarly warn other drivers on the approach.)
• Avoid excessive speeding – the police love to catch speeders, so don’t go more than 10kph above the speed limit. Speed limits are 50kph through towns and 80kph on the highways
• If you’re planning to drive secondary roadways I recommend getting an SUV or similar high clearance vehicle as the road conditions vary greatly – some are not so bad, others are  horrendous.

Special mentions:

• The roadway leading from the A1 to Anchovy is particularly hazardous along a couple of sections as you come down from the hills where the northbound lane is half missing, forcing you to drive mostly on the right side. And at one point the lane has a huge hole in it where the land had slipped forcing it down to a single lane with the installation of guardrail around the hole. 
• During our tour of Cockpit Country I used an abandoned or “seldom used” roadway to take us from St Vincent to Burnt Hill. It is more like a rocky shelf than a roadway - you can tell it was built during colonial times however it seems like it has not seen any maintenance since Jamaica gained its’ independence in 1962. I would not recommend venturing up this road unless you have plenty of time – max speed was maybe 15kph but I think we averaged about 8kph so it took almost 2 hours to crawl to the end where we came across a miniscule settlement.
• The worst roadway was just off the aforementioned road to Anchovy. A crater-filled, pockmarked, treacherous abomination that is even worse than the abandoned road in Cockpit Country leads you to Rocklands Bird Sanctuary. It has quite a steep ascent so coming back down I had to gear down to L1 to ensure we didn’t get moving too quickly as this road would have easily ripped the undercarriage from the Suzuki Jimny we rented.

And so ends my primer on driving in Jamaica. I hope that this information will help you to make your decision as to whether or not to rent a vehicle. I have tried to be very honest and in doing so it is also my hope that I have not scared anyone off driving. Yes driving in Jamaica can be challenging but if you like driving and don’t mind a bit of a challenge then you should have No Problem Mon!