Driving on Guam

They were interviewing a local cop on the radio regarding the check points that periodically go up around the island -- where they use a laser detector to clock speeders. In his sternest voice the officer warned, "We look for anyone going 15 miles per hour over the limit. So, if we catch you going 50 in a 35 mile per hour zone, you WILL get a ticket."

Technically the highest speed allowed anywhere on Guam is 45 miles per hour. Someone told me that is the case. We never had to take written drivers' tests and besides, there were not any rule books available for study when we got our licenses. As I've mentioned in the past, law enforcement, at so many levels, tends to be a little more relaxed out here (unless you're on a military base where if you go even half a mile over the posted limit you'll do life in the Castle at Ft Leavenworth.)

Actually, speeding isn't as big of a problem here as in other places where we've lived. That's because on a whole the roads are so potted that you can't go 35 miles per hour without wiping out the shocks. Where there are good stretches of road, though, people really like to open things up and they will go 60 -- but generally speaking not much more. And now I know why. Of course, when you live on a 220 square mile island there's really no need to be in a hurry to go anywhere, anyway.

There are probably more problems with people driving on the wrong side of the road than with speeding. You more or less have to do that at times to maneuver around the potholes. (I keep wanting to stop whenever I see road workers -- just to remind them to put as much dirt back in the hole as they took out -- to stomp it down real good -- and then to smooth it over so that the new surface is the same as the old. But I've resisted the urge.)

The GPD is participating in the "click it or ticket" campaign. The police will pull vehicles over if the driver and passengers are obviously not wearing seat-belts -- unless of course, the passengers are riding in the bed of a pick-up truck, where for some reason seatbelt laws do not apply. I suppose there is less chance that they'll get thrown through the windshield if the driver hits a really big hole in the road.

It's a different world -- with a different way of thinking -- and that makes it fun. We're still lovin' it -- potholes and all!