left lane?

left lane? yes car? yes

So i can drive my american car on british style roads...nice....do they sell backwards cars there?

You will be totally confused by "the left is right" for a few days...I found it easiest to break myself in during moderate traffic times - just follow the guy in front of you! It becomes second nature after a little while, only confusing when you go back stateside and everyone's driving wrong....I still have trouble at those intersections where no one seems to know who should go first, and stopping short when you are making a right hand turn

I did make an ouch-y my first or second week here - and on the highway on STX, no less. Thank goodness no heavy traffic was coming at me. I figured it out when the guy in the pick up passed me and yelled something that didn't sound quite nice. Haven't forgotten since then.

It's easier than you think - and use the search feature and you will find out all about shipping cars.

I found how to ship my car, I 'm jsut not sure if i should by one there that's already made for backwards...or if it's ok to bring mine

They aren't made with the steering wheel on the right hand side here, if that's what you mean...they don't make any cars here, nor do they import anything like that unless, I guess, you specifically wanted to pay the price. All the cars are out of the States, so they are just like you're used to. It actually is probably a little better...if you happen to have a collision while passing a car on the other side of the road going the opposite direction, heaven forbid, you're on the far side of the car and so is the other driver. It's a white-knuckler for the passenger for a while.

What you will find confusing for a while is that you're trying SO hard to remember to stay left - and here comes a car right down the middle of the road that doesn't pick a lane until it is within 3 feet of your bumper...argggh...or going around a curve and someone is stopped in the road to talk on the phone...or that using your dim lights at night is apparently frowned upon...or cars that totally go around a whole line of traffic, cut in front of the first car in line, and just keep going. It's a little crazy - it's the one place where you'd better totally be paying attention while driving.

Seatbelts are the LAW around here and the police are serious about it - also, hands free wireless is now in effect...but trust me, you really don't need to be talking on the phone and trying to drive, hands free or not!

You'll be fine. For future reference, though, if you are coming to STX, there is now a radar gun on the island (although I don't know if anyone knows how to correctly calibrate it)...but the police have nailed more than a few speeding demons on the highway, which resembles the Autobahn at times (but isn't).

The cars in the USVI are standard US type cars. The steering wheel is on the left, and yes they drive on the left side of the road. The driver is toward the curb, the passenger is in the middle of the road. There are no "backward" cars (British style).

From what I've heard, you'll have to pay a lot more to ship non American cars to the islands. And if I recall, even the American cars have to have been built in the US (not Canada or Mexico).

oh, is a ford focus made in us? that's what we have. And my hubby will be looking for a truck once we get there to work out of...any pricing ball parks? Used

The police had a speed trap set up on Easter Sunday on the east end road by Chenay Bay. He had stopped someone.

Also you can buy a Jeep Wrangler with right hand drive. I think this option is popular with rural mail carriers.

Jim

Driving on the left is easy....just remember this phrase... "shoulder to the shoulder".

In other words your left shoulder should be facing the shoulder of the road....otherwise you're on the wrong side of the road.

Cheers!

F.I.

Gee, I heard is as "a** to/in the grass" 🙂

confused: As the driver, it is easy to drive on the left. You get as far to the left side as possible. It is the person in the passenger seat who will be screaming about the guy who wants to be in your lane! 😀

The story I heard is that it dates back to the days when donkeys were the main form of transportation here. When cars started showing up on island (from America), they tried to drive on the right. However most donkeys, like most humans, are right-handed (or right-hoofed, as it were), and their right eye, being their dominant eye, was the eye they always used to try to keep an eye on something that they were wary of. So, two donkeys walking towards each other will always pass to the left of each other, keeping their dominant eye on the other donkey (gotta check out that other ass...har-har!). The donkey owners would beat their donkeys trying to teach them to walk on the right, but it was just so much easier to teach us dumb Americans to drive on the left! I also heard that back in the sixties there was a day when all lanes were supposed to switch over to right side driving, but it didn't go over so well. It's now part of our heritage and just another small part of what makes the Virgin Islands so special...

True or not? Dunno. Do I care? No. Makes for a neat story!

I have noticed that in walking, for example in a store or on a sidewalk, everyone seems to walk to the right side, not the left. WHY??? Seems that they would walk on the left.

Nope, we walk on the right and drive on the left...I think it might have something to do with humans being mostly right-handed...just comes second nature to us. And our eyes are on the front of our face, unlike a donkey's! haha!

I heard that it is because of British influence. While the islands were a Danish colony, there was more cultural influence from Great Britain than Denmark, which is why we speak English today and not Danish or some other language. Of course, I am not sure if there were cars in the Danish West Indies prior to 1917, but I guess they drove on the left with horses and donkey carts. Anyways, as a result, we now drive on the left today.

I also heard another theory that the first cars were sent to the USVI from Barbados, and we just followed them. I don't know the validity of this theory, though.

And I was told by a local it dates back to when knights fought each other in battle...they held their swords or whatever you call those things in the right hand, so they stayed to the left, the better to spear their opponent! Of course, I suppose that was the Brits carrying on, I'm lousy at history...

For whatever reason, the walk to the right, drive to the left thing is confusing here...I tried going left in the grocery store and have narrowly avoided many a head-on with another cart. What can REALLY screw you up for a while is parking lots! Don't know why, but we seem to want to bear right even after driving left....

I had also been told it was due to the donkey's not being trainable to pass each other to the opposite side. When cars first started coming to the islands there were more donkeys, so the donkeys won. It makes as much sense as any other reason.

Now, of course, nobody is going to go to the effort of re-striping roads and moving the few signs that are posted to the opposite side and direction! Many islanders will never travel out of the USVI and need to drive on the right, so why should the locals change their driving ways to accommodate the tourists? This is just one of many quirks that immediately strikes visitors as making the islands a little bit exotic.