The driving laws of Mexico are safe?

Question

The driving laws of Mexico are safe?

Answer 1

well the friving laws r fafe as in any other place...the prb is tht pp dont follow em....lol

Answer 2

The Mexican government has many driving laws. In most cities and pueblos, it's very safe to drive, but if you're talking about Mexico City, there's way too many vehicles and no room for courtesy.

The rule is that you keep your right and everytime you want to pass the vehicle in front of you, then you take the left lane and speed up. This happens mainly in highways.

Also if you're driving by Avenues (avenidas), you don't have to stop at the end of every block, you keep going. If you're driving through streets (calles) you need to stop at every cruise and block.

Nobody will give you a speeding ticket, I've never seen it. But if you're driving under the influence of alcohol, then there's a chance that they send you to jail. In Mexico City they're enforcing this.

I don't know if the "Manual de tránsito" (or Official Driving Manual) is available in English, but you should take a look at it.

Cheers,

Lou

www.OfficialMexicoGuide.com

Answer 3

I can only account for Mexico City. The new laws that affect even certain regions of the State of Mexico where I live in took into effect over 1 year ago and I think the laws are mostly reasonable (just wished cops would enforce them more though).

In Mexico City, you MUST wear a seat belt. Before the law took into effect, it was still legal to drive in the State of Mexico without one (it was always illegal in the DF), but now everyone must wear one. People riding in the back probably won't get ticketed though. Most people I've seen do obey the law (plus it's sheer common sense that seatbelts really do save lives), I'd say like 70% of the time people do obey it. You do it too.

It's very well known people in Mexico City are literally rabid animals when they drive. If you can't drive defensively, don't drive here. Use public transportation or carpool with someone. Soccer moms in SUV's, bus drivers, taxi drivers and juniors (richy boy bratty teenagers with tiny cars that are standard and usually drive over 60 mph) are the ones you should be aware of the most.

According to the new law, mexican cops can tow your car (we call it "llevar el coche al corralón") if you stop your car at a stoplight right on top of the white line for people to cross the street in and the car can be retained for 10 days, plus your fine. I've never seen it happen, but the law is very clear on this so no point in whining that they are lying, you have been warned. Curiously, the law gives a far more lax punishment for crossing a red light.

Most of the laws are very obvious (don't cross red lights), no speeding albeit most streets don't tell you what the max speed is, don't park in a forbidden zone, limits on how many meters you can drive in reverse (about 50 meters the last time I checked), etc...

Highways let you go at maximum 100 km/hr (about 65 mph), but most streets in the city allow between 40-60 km/hr. Neighborhood closed streets and malls require 10 km/hr max. Not that everyone obeys the law though, but traffic here sucks so much, you'll rarely go faster than 40 anyways.

Drinking and driving is a pretty serious crime. Especially if you have no car insurance and you crash a car. If it's a first time offense and you didn't hit anyone, you'll still get 18 hours in jail with bail unless you get a good lawyer t get you out sooner and you lose liscense points which is a new thing. It's still possible to bribe cops though only 200 pesos might not do it if you were drunk.

Regarding running people over when there's a bridge nearby, the incident must happen 200 meteres or less near a bridge and the law varies between DF and State of Mexico. If this happens in the State of Mexico in the 200 m limit, you can't go to jail even if you killed that person on purpose. You can even sue the family if you car was damaged. If this happens in the DF, even if the victim was fully guilty, they will put the blame on you. You might not go to jail, but you will at least get a nice fine and can't sue. Ironically most people that avoid crossing bridges are plump. Guess going up 20 stairs is just too much.

Oh, Mexico City has ridiculous and outdated laws on which cars can drive or not. If the car (Mexico City registered) is over 8 years old or if it's from another state or country (when there's a contingency from air pollution that day) and the final number is on a day where those cars can't drive, cops can stop you and fine you unless you have a special permit because a person that uses the car is handicapped and is inside the car when the cop stops you. They WILL stop you!!!! My mom has a special permit and they've stopped her at least twice but couldn't fine or bribe her because she showed them the permit.

Answer 4

Well I'm from Mexico City myself and the laws are safe, but not the drivers.

It's crazy out there, everybody is very agressive I suggest you take a cab or public transportation which is actually safer ;)

good luck amigo!

Answer 5

Dont know about the laws but I do know Mexican drivers and they are lunatics.Also if they get caught drink driving, 200pesos to the cops will soon sort that problem out.

Nobody indicates either so its one big guessing game.

Answer 6

The driving laws are very safe. The drivers aren't. Big cities are the worst.

Answer 7

If you're following a slow truck, sometimes he'll put on his left turn signal to indicate that it's safe to pass.  And sometimes he'll put on his left turn signal to indicate he's making a left turn.  How do you decide what he means?

If you're approaching a one lane bridge, and someone else is approaching from the other direction, the driver that flashes their headlights first has the right of way.

Almost all villages and towns have speed bumps (TOPES) entering and exiting the area--that's their way of slowing down speeders.

Traffic police will sometimes stop cars with US plates for very minor infractions just hoping to get una mordita (a bribe--a little bite) for him to forget about writing the ticket.

I've driven through 18 of the 31 states and Mexico City, and the only problem I've ever had was a scratched fender in a parking lot.  So I would say it's safe--on average, it's probably safer than the US, because there is so little traffic on the toll roads.

The driving is fine as long as you stay alert.