Driving in Aruba
While the island of Aruba is mostly flat, there are rises and dips and some roads are rocky. Driving can be truly enjoyable when the rules of the road and the courtesies implied are followed in whatever your choice of vehicle.
Make sure you’ve got enough gas in your car and enough water for you and your fellow travelers. Our climate demands your insides are watered well. If you drive a convertible with the top down, please use plenty of sunscreen. During and right after rainfall, please drive slowly for the roads might be slippery. And please watch out for windblown sand that can make roads slithery.
Iguanas have right of way - please stop for them. The free-roaming goats that sometimes graze near the road do know their ways, but please drive carefully while passing them. For some goats the grass sometimes suddenly seems greener on the other side of the road.
Because Aruba is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, our ways and byways are based on European regulations. Driving laws are not the same in some instances as those in the U.S. For instance on Aruba there are no right turns on red lights. Please take time to examine the “Rules of the Road” on the next page, so you’ll drive as save as possible.
Traffic in our main town Oranjestad is congested during the most part of the day. Arubans take it easy, even in traffic jams. Life is great and for some that includes roaming through town at an easy pace.
RULES OF THE ROAD
1. For your safety please wear seatbelts in vehicles and helmets on scooters and motorcycles. Our roads can be slippery when even slightly wet. Our cooling trade winds are often quite gusty, so chances are that there’s windblown sand on the road. Please drive careful when the roads are winding.
2. On Aruba it’s not allowed to turn right on red lights.
3. By law all motorized traffic coming from the right have the right-of-way. But it’s always best to be cautious when you approach a crossing.
4. At T-crossings traffic must yield the right-of-way to all crossing traffic.
5. Signal in time before you switch lanes. Please obey left, right and center arrows on multi-lane roads.
