Driving in San Jose

It is always good to know the driving rules for any particular city. Here are some interesting tidbits about driving in San Jose:

Signs: “Alto” doesn’t really mean stop, it just means slow down if you want to, or honk your horn as you enter the intersection. A red light doesn’t really mean “stop until the light turns green”, it just means “stop if you want to”, or “stop, then go”. “Hay en piso” on a residential street might mean “one way” for trucks or buses, but for cars, it probably does not apply to you, especially as one can see at least 10 cars parked in the direction that is not the one way allowed. Some taxis pay attention to signs like these, and others consider themselves more like personal cars, at least for the moment.

Nuances: One way streets that are thoroughfares are usually understood to be one-way streets. However, driving in reverse when you miss your turn is understood as necessary, and no one honks at anyone for driving backwards. Given how very hilly this city is, we find this a very interesting practice. Also, the direction of the thoroughfare only applies to cars or trucks (unless as per above, they need to be driving in reverse back to the turn they missed); however, servicio express (take out) motorbikes go in whatever direction they want. We have learned that we enjoy our walks much more when we look both ways before crossing the street. Additionally, some streetlights only show the red/green lights in three directions, and thus, the fourth direction just has to guess, or take their chances. Also, the lanes painted on the streets are really only guidelines. No one really expects you to stay in your lane if something is in the way of your progress; cars just keep moving over, including those coming right at you. Finally, drivers must attend to the street itself, as there are deep potholes everywhere.

Honking: Unlike in many cities in the United States, honking is not considered rude or unfriendly. In fact, if you didn’t beep your horn to say hello, that would be rude and unfriendly. Taxis and other cars beep to say hello all the time. IN fact, if a taxiste sees you and he drove you somewhere the other day, he will beep to say hello; he doesn’t need to be your best friend. And, if a taxiste doesn’t know you, but thinks you might like a taxi, or should want a taxi, he might beep to let you know the great opportunity you have for a ride. Also, if you are female, all cars will beep to say hello and other provocative things as well. Since half the population is female this adds substantially to the tooting of horns. Finally, all vehicles also use their horns preventively, so if they think a situation might be developing they will toot their horns too, to warn you they are coming, they are turning, someone else is coming, someone else is turning, etc etc. School buses also honk their horns to let students know they are there (many students can’t see the buses because of the gates); one of them is actually my alarm clock. I think there are probably other reasons for honking as well, but I haven’t broken those codes yet. Suffice to say there is a lot of traffic noise in San Jose. Now that I understand that this is all communicative and mostly friendly, it is more amusing than bothersome. And, in striking contrast, last week for the first time I actually saw one seriously angry person blast another driver, and it was unnerving in that it just is not done here.