Driving in Dominica

Driving is not listed as one of the "7 epic adventures you didn’t know were possible in Dominica," but it probably should be!

We had prearranged the rental of a vehicle via Island Car Rentals, but the rented vehicle was not available when we arrived because the previous renters had tested positive for COVID-19 on their departure test and so the vehicle could not be rented out yet. Fortunately, arrangements had been made before we got there to rent the vehicle from Bonus Car Rentals. We paid the small amount to get a Dominican drivers permit and it was written up before we departed.

The vehicle we rented was a Honda Crossroad with almost 100,000 miles on it. It was not a late model and had some scratches, but we were happy about this because it would have made us more nervous to drive a newer vehicle in Dominica where scratches seem almost inevitable.

Driving in Dominica is done on the left side of the road. Our rental vehicle had the steering wheel on the right side of the vehicle. We drive a Honda at home and so the setup was what we expected, except that it was a mirror representation of what we're used to. Several times, I turned on the wipers when I meant to use the signal indicator and vice versa. This photograph shows one of the nicer sections of highway in Dominica.

One of the challenges in driving in Dominica is that there are almost never sidewalks and often no significant shoulders. This means that locals are often found walking in the street. Many try to stay to the side as much as they can, but it can still get pretty tight if someone is coming the other direction. There are also a lot of dogs wandering around on the roads adding more movement to be on the watch for. We also saw numerous chickens on the sides of the roads and sometimes on the road. Although we never saw them on the road, even iguanas are possible on the road!

In some places, the two lanes become especially narrow and in more rural areas there sometimes aren't really two full lanes.

On back roads, you can find roads that are really only one lane, such as this back road to Spanny Falls.

Driving on the left, people and dogs in the street, and narrowing roads are not the only issues one encounters when driving in Dominica. Because the lanes are so narrow, it is not uncommon for oncoming drivers to drive in the middle of the road, overlapping each lane. This is especially common around the many blind curves, so it's important to watch those curves carefully. This was the one part of night driving that was easier because the oncoming vehicle's lights warned of them coming in the unlit back areas. During the day, some drivers would use their horns to notify others they were coming around a blind corner.

Another characteristic that could make Dominica driving difficult was the deep ditches on the side of the road at some points. These could do significant damage to a vehicle and made it scarier to move to the side and away from the middle when traffic was oncoming. We did not get a photograph of these deep ditches, but some of them were deep and would be too easy to slip a tire into if one went to close to the edge of the road.

The saving grace for driving in Dominica is that there aren't really that many vehicles. If there were more vehicles on the road to watch for, it'd be more nerve wracking. A taste of what this might be like can be found in the capital city of Roseau where the vehicle density is greater and the streets are really narrow. Even in Portsmouth, but especially in Roseau, people would stop their vehicles in the middle of the lane while they went into the business or shop near where they parked. This meant that all traffic going in the same direction had to wait for no oncoming traffic to use that oncoming lane to get around the parked car. There were also vehicles such as garbage trucks and construction trucks that would also do this because they had no where else to park. There were times when an especially large truck was coming the other way in Roseau and all of us who were going the other direction had to go as far left as we could without going into the ditch and only had inches to spare between the oncoming truck and us.

It also rains a lot in Dominica. We were there in the "dry" season and had intermittent and sometimes heavy showers on each of the days we were there. This makes the paved roads wet and the rural roads muddy.

We did notice that the driving in Dominica became less harrowing as we got used to it. We drove more slowly when we needed to, pulled over to let faster moving vehicles pass us when the relatively rare chance to do so presented itself, slowed down to let passing vehicles back in our lane instead of running into oncoming traffic, etc. By far, the most important driving practice in Dominica is to be distraction-free and able to fully concentrate on the many things going on around the vehicle (oncoming vehicles, narrowing lanes, missing middle lines, deep ditches on either side, people and animals in the street, cars parked in the only lane in your direction, no lights in rural area for night driving, wet or muddy roads, roads with only one true lane, etc.) With full concentration and a little practice driving in Dominica, it does become less stressful, especially when outside of Roseau.

There are not a lot of signs on Dominican streets. We rarely saw street signs or speed limit signs.

Summarized Tips Regarding Vehicle Rental and Driving in Dominica

Here are summarized tips related to renting a vehicle and driving in Dominica:

• Rent all-wheel drive or 4-wheel drive vehicle.
• Rent smallest possible vehicle that suits needs to deal with narrow lanes and difficulty parking.
• Have car insurance either through credit card used to rent vehicle or purchased as part of rental.
• Concentrate fully on driving and what's happenung around you at all times!
• Expect people, chickens, dogs, cats, iguanas, and other animals and items to be in the road at any time.
• Expect vehicles in front of you, especially taxis (which are often white sports utility vehicles and vans), to stop at any moment to pick up passengers.
• Expect vehicles to be stopped in the lane even where there is only one lane each way and busy traffic in both directions.
• Expect oncoming drivers to be in middle of road, especially coming around turns. Use horn (and lights at night) to warn oncoming drivers when you're approaching a turn.
• Be aware of no or few street lights in areas away from the cities and towns.
• Beware deep drainage ditchs alongside the road.
• Beware pot holes.
• Beware large speed bumps in cities and towns.
• Beware of wet roads with frequent rain in Dominica.
• Be aware that there are relatively few street signs (speed limit signs, names of streets, etc.) in Dominica.
• When parking alongside road, pull in mirrors.

Conclusion

Driving in Dominica is certainly not something for new drivers. We saw a "student driver" in Roseau driving incredibly slow, but we couldn't blame them and felt for them having to learn to drive in Roseau! Although the driving could be a bit scary at times, it allowed us to visit so much more in Dominica than we could have without a car. We were glad that we did rent a car while in Dominica and now view driving in Dominica as another of the adventures we experienced on the Nature Island.

Others' Quotes on Driving in Dominica

Here are what others have written about driving in Dominica:

• World Nomads's "Driving in Dominica: How Safe is Road Travel?"
  • "With narrow winding roads, steep drops-off and limited traffic signs, driving in Dominica is a challenge."
  • "Driving on the island of Dominica is not for the faint of heart."
• U.S. News & World Report: "Getting Around Dominica"
  • "Traveling by car is the most efficient way to get around Dominica, but should only be attempted by the most confident drivers."
• TripAdvisor Forum: "Dominica- Is Driving really that much of a problem."
  • "Driving in Dominica was scary and exciting at the same time. I agree something that you should be prepared for and no excuses for complaints. Took about a day to get my fingernails from embedded in the seat. We stayed up in the mountains, so had to descend everyday to explore and once we conquered the one way roads in Roseau, it was smooth sailing."
• Discover Dominica: "10 tips for your trip to Dominica, the Caribbean's Nature Island"
  • "Driving in Dominica isn’t a walk in the park—at least at first. You’ll be driving on the left, navigating narrow lanes, cement drainage ditches, and drop-offs into the ocean. "
• Matador Network's "The ultimate road trip guide to Dominica"
  • "'Lanes' are often a suggestion, and you may see impatient drivers getting creative on the wrong side of the road."
• Bradt Guides: "Health and safety on Dominica"
  • "Without doubt the riskiest part of any visit to Dominica is when driving. Some of the roads are challenging, oft en narrow with pot-holes, deep drainage gutters and sharp corners but it is Dominican driving practices that present the greatest potential hazard. There appears to be no happy medium when it comes to the way local people drive and you should simply expect the unexpected."
• Traveler Mike's Driving in Dominica
  • "Driving in Dominica is demanding, unpredictable, unnerving, and undeniably dangerous."
  • "But regardless of your level of experience, driving in Dominica remains treacherous. You cannot take your attention off the road ahead of you for a moment or you risk a lethal accident."
  • "Roseau is much more congested with motor vehicles, pedestrians, noise, and assorted lunacy than other areas of Dominica."
• Dave's Travel Corner: "How to Spend a Few Days in Dominica"
  • "Driving is challenging."
  • "Often roads have a fairly deep ditch with a vertical drop off directly next to the pavement."
  • "Roads are often not striped in the center."
  • "Roads are steep, narrow, curvy and often there will be vehicles parked on the road taking up half of the road."
• Dominica Living's Driving on Dominica
  • "Driving On Dominica is not for the faint-of-heart and demands serious attention and concentration. Bottom-line, driving is treacherous."