Nicaragua - Rules of the Road
Driving in Nicaragua is an extremely different occurrence than driving across the US, and travelers and vacationers should understand that before hitting the Nicaraguan roads. As a general rule, there are just a couple of paved roads, mostly major highways, and yet those are in poor condition. Secondary roads, if you can even think of them as that, are unpaved and rutted, full of potholes and hazards, dark, and have no shoulder.
Driving through the country is done on the right-hand side, as it is in the U.S. Tourists are told that when considering a visit to Costa Rica or the Honduras for the duration of their visit to Nicaragua, they should go across the borders at the main border-crossing locations, Las Manos and Penas Blancas. Traffic laws are extremely diverse in the country as well. Drivers involved in a fender bender in which an individual dies is immediately under arrest till the reason of the wreck can be determined. You must never move a car involved in the fender bender till the police get there or the accountability consequently falls on the individual who moved the car.
While the government is devoting funds for infrastructure, including bettering roads and bridges, the rainy season keeps on taking its toll on the roads. Still the best roads in the country contain threats that can bring about an accident. Visitors to the country are intensely directed to retain insurance, be positive their car is in full accordance with Nicaraguan transit law and to continuously carry a cell phone should your car gets trapped has engine trouble in the countryside. Even better, tourists are instructed to hire a professional driver acquainted with the roads in the countryside and let him chauffer you everywhere. Never ride on a public transit bus, as they are in bad condition and rife with crooks.
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