Driving in Goiania, Brazil

Imagine having a handful of marbles and dropping them into a rain gutter. All the marbles are going the same direction but all over the place. Where there should be two marbles rolling in the same direction, there is three and its very tight. Now in this description I made the marble a car or truck. I didn't even add the motorcycle element to the mix. They squeeze between the marbles and will even hit your side view mirrors without a care in the world. To say the least driving here is madness!

The only law you need to worry about is traffic cameras and they are clearly marked. Just look for the signs and obey the law at that time. They can be for speed or for running through an intersection. Other than that, do what you want. Its really a free for all here. Is it a two lane road but there is enough room on the shoulder to drive around a couple people stopped at a red light. Do it! You just passed a bunch of people and saved at least 30 seconds getting to your next destination. Do you need to turn around but don't feel like going all the way around the round about. Make that immediate left turn into on-coming traffic. Man you just saved another 10-15 seconds.

As an American I can say we are probably the best drivers in the world. I have traveled a lot and can't think of a better place. Yes we have people who drive slow in the fast lane and those people who wait until the last minute to go from two lanes into one at construction zones. I am hard pressed to really think of any time in America where I saw people just do what ever they wanted to do on the roads. Nope... Plus I have had many conversations with Brazilians about how drivers respect each other in America. They also speak at how nice our roads are. The 6 month rainy season destroys the roads here and makes huge holes. The ones you swerve to avoid because you may lose you car in them.

Now here I understand one of the biggest things I see is for safety. Late at night people will slow down and run red lights in bad neighborhoods. Don't want to get robbed or killed for sure. I've done this in the past and have no problem with it. Now imagine its day light and no traffic cameras are around. Which there is a bunch here in the city and you can definitely tell which intersections have it. You probably guessed it by now, people run red lights all the time during the day. Not for safety but because they feel entitled to. Even if you are stopped at a light they will drive around you and keep going.

Let's go back to the motorcycle issue. They split lanes like there is no tomorrow. You will be driving along and out of no where a motorcycle will pass you within inches at all speeds. Stopped at a red light...they will all squeeze through the cars to create a wave of motorcycles at the front. Then they will start running the red light at their leisure. Back to the squeezing through the mass of cars and trucks. They will bump into you, knock your mirrors, drive on sidewalks, etc. Anything to get to the front. I used to stop in a way to prevent them from getting by until I had them start damaging my car. Not worth it and getting out to confront one biker is not a great idea. They are like a small gang. One goes down they are stop and provide security. Its a brotherhood without knowing each other. I now stop with one side of the vehicle free for them to move by. Another reason not to confront them, they could be carrying a handgun.

Who out there has heard about the Waze app? Show of hands please...just kidding! Well the police here do roadblocks at night to look for drunk drivers. That's the only time you will see cops doing anything in regards to enforcing traffic laws. Let me say that again, the only time you will see the police doing anything on the roads here. Waze will help you avoid all roadblocks and even give you the quickest way to do it. Yes make sure you observe the route they give you and double check for roadblocks while using it. Not saying I drive drunk here but the roadblocks are a little annoying. I was a passenger one night and we got flagged in going through one of these. Its random and they check all the documentation. Plus they give the driver an alcohol breathalyzer. Not a big deal that night because our driver wasn't drinking. It took about 10-15 minutes to do this and wasn't too bad. I still try to avoid them and beware Waze could be driving you through a bad area...

Do I break the law like a Brazilian...yes. I do speed and at night I will run that red light (safety). But I don't push it any further than that. Maybe in a few years when I'm fully immersed into the culture I will push the boundaries a little out of my comfort zone. I hope not and now thinking about it. I need to create an environment where my children see me doing the right thing. They will grow up to be just like me. The roll model I must be saying in a Yoda voice.

Well now its time for a bad story about my driving. I feel really bad about it but it was a bad situation. Yes there is bad neighborhoods here but every country has that. I try to avoid them as much as possible. On this particular night I had to go through one coming home from a relatives home. It was dark and no street lights. I was in an area where if the car was able to continue on at any cost I was going to keep going. Like a Mad Max movie but without the weird people! So I was on this tight road that leads to the highway and it was extremely dark. Out of nowhere a huge dog ran in front of me. It was a spilt second and bang, it hit the front and went under...I slowed down and immediately I thought to myself I got to keep going. This is not a safe place to stop and check everything and provide assistance to an injured dog. I shook the car back and forth to make sure the steering was ok and left the area.

As I was driving on, all I could think of was the fact these dogs live in the streets and always get out of the way. I mean you will be driving through the city and dogs will be in traffic. Kind a hard to believe this dog would happen to just jump out in front of me. I was the only car on this road and it was a choke point...could it have been some people trying to get me to stop. I don't know and never will. But I think I did the safest thing to keep my family safe. Yes it did some body work damage and I am very happy it didn't do any structural damage. This happened about 2 months ago and still is very vivid in my memory. Sucks!

I hope you got a brief description of driving here. Its something to get used to and I actually feel I could write more. I didn't really talk about photo radar, look for signs and slow down, Speed bumps, that's an interesting one. Most small cities around Goiania have them. It makes everything in the back of the car go flying if you miss the warning sign. Roundabouts, which I absolutely love, slow down and keep going if you have the right away. Those can be challenging though! Perhaps in the future I will go more into detail!

Thanks for reading!