Safety Tips in Barbados

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If you forget, it is helpful to have a passenger who will shout "Left LEFT!!" as the oncoming bus is about to crush you.

Because in Barbados (as in England, Japan, Bermuda and the Virgin Islands) cars drive on the LEFT.

Most of the time there isn't a problem. On the rural roads, there's no one else around to hit. On the few divided highways, the only problem is that you pass on the right instead of the left. And since the cars are RHD (right hand drive) you will be in an unfamiliar seat and it will remind you that you should stay to the left. Try to stay out of rush hour which is usually from generally from 7:00-8:30am and from 4:30-5:30pm.



There are two significant problems though. Making a left turn you may forget to allow for the majority of the car to be to your left rather than your right. And the other problem is the roundabouts.

Flow of Traffic and Navigating Roundabouts
All traffic flows around roundabouts in a clockwise direction. Upon approaching a roundabout - SLOW DOWN! Look right and wait for a break in traffic before merging with the oncoming vehicles. Leave the circle by using your indicator and turn left onto the road of your choice.

Visitors to the island are easily identifiable on the road by the 'H' number plate. Locals are usually accommodating of your confusion with directions, round abouts, road signs etc..., and make allowances!

When I checked my baggage in in London, I got the information that it was checked through via Barbados to Antigua and, according to the baggage tag, this information was correct.. But as soon as I got to my check-in counter (my bag was checked through, but I needed to check.in my self for the onward flight), I was told that they needed the bag to check the weight. I knew it (13 kgs), but they needed the bag to check it anyway. Usually it stands on the baggage tags, but here, one of the tricky things in the world of aviation comes to the play: The piece concept.

The piece concept says that baggage is not counted by its weight, but by the number of pieces of baggage, taking a pre-defined weight for each. Under the piece concept, passengers are allowed to check-in two pieces à 32 kgs (in some cases 23 only). The exact weight is not noted on the baggage tags in this case. The piece concept is used on flights to the USA and Canada, but it is used on some other routes in the world too. For Barbados it means that flights to the USA, Canada and Europe use the piece concept. But on almost all intra-island flights the weight concept (here you are allowed a certain amount of kgs, no matter how many bags you check in) is used. So, please check your tickets when flying through Barbados. If one of your tickets says PC under baggage allowance while another has a certain amount of kgs in the place, you may face difficulties with your baggage being checked through. Even, if your airline says otherwise…

The consequence of this was that I had to go back to the baggage reclaim area, find out where they have put my bag and go back to the check-in counter. That whole procedure took me more than half an hour and can easily spoil a flight connection!

Similar to previous comments in this page, if you decide to take up some car hire time (recommended), you must acknowledge that having a road map with you basically doesn't guarantee you not getting lost.

Most of the areas of Barbados are poorly signposted (or not at all), so it is extremely easy to get lost; particularly in the rural areas. Typically there are important signposts on the opposite direction, hence you miss them if you're going the other way. I got lost trying to find North beach.. and lost on the way back.. this is the girl that's usually top notch at directions.

I found that sometimes noting the bus stops which either say 'To Town' or 'Out of Town' would give you a rough idea of where you're headed, but even that wasn't entirely reliable.

Another note to make is that the traffic jams peri-Bridgetown during peak times (usually 4pm onwards) are ridiculous. It would take me 2 hours to complete a 15 minute trip, courtesey of the new bypasses they've been constructing for years.

This guy comes to the hotel to climb the palm trees to take down coconuts that cause a hazard for hotel guests in the grounds.

The owners let him cut them down, and take them so he can sell them to make some cash, so both parties benefit.

click on the picture to see him scale the tree. This photograph was taken from our balcony .

I must share with you the hazard warning on an open manhole on one of the pavements in the Hastings area.

I like the inventiveness.

As I have said in my con's about Barbados, potholes a' plenty , well pavement hazards are there as well.
Enlarge picture to get the full impact. The pavement has now been repaired, but hazards are all too common.

Photo by joanj

We decided to visit the Soup Bowl at Bathsheba on a Sunday morning in our hire car...and it was impossible to find. After probably 3 or 4 hours of driving round in circles along bumpy and secluded 'roads' we gave up and headed back to St Lawrence Gap.
Even after two sets of instructions from a vicar and some petrol station workers, we were still none the wiser.
The roads are not named, not signposted and most do not have any lines so it can be very difficult to know where you're going, or even if you're driving the right way down a road!
Best to stay under the safety of your trusty beach umbrella I'd say.

I got robbed at gun point on the beach. I went on the pirate booze cruise, in the middle of the cruse we went to a beach. At the beach I met a local named Chucky. He said met me at (forget name, very popular bar for cruse shippers) ^&*#$* bar tonight. I met him at the bar, had more drinks and took a walk down the beach. We sat down and talked but when we got up to go back up there where two guys with guns and they robbed ME. They took Chucky’s stuff but threw it back on the beach. I think he was involved but who knows. Horrible experience, stay off the beach at night!!!!!

The last time I was in Barbados, Nov 06, there was a hugh discussion on the way locals handle fish. The local markets and fish markets do the cleaning if you ask. The problem is, unless you are watching how it is done, problems occur. The main discussion was the fisherman cleaning fish and sometimes the barbs from the fins puncture the hands of the person cleaning the fish. Many locals are becoming aware of the possible transmisions of bllod borne deseases. You must insist that the person cleaning the fish wear gloves. Unless you are there as the fish are being cleaned, they simply wash off any blood after cleaning, and see no problem with that.