Newcomer WTF is the deal with Pedestrians not having the right of way in Buenos Aires. I almost got killed today at a green light

[Rick]

We got hit by a girl on a moped and within minutes two police cars as well as an ambulance appeared out of nowhere which amazed me I have to say. The girl rider had a sore leg and was taken to hospital for a check up. My missus showed the rather attractive police girl her documents and shortly after we were free to go. The incident with pictures even made the front page of the local newspaper next day.
We never heard anymore about it which really surprised me.

Wow. Did someone call 911? How did they arrive there so quickly? I am amazed I almost never see ambulances in Buenos Aires. Did the girl with the moped get charged or ticketed? It seems like there is always a way to pay and get out of this situation.

 

[Scottishgaucho]

Wow. Did someone call 911? How did they arrive there so quickly? I am amazed I almost never see ambulances in Buenos Aires. Did the girl with the moped get charged or ticketed? It seems like there is always a way to pay and get out of this situation.

I think by chance a patrol car was passing and contacted the ambulance service. My wife told the police her insurance would look after the small dent left in the car and she was just glad to see the girl was okay. No idea what happened to her but as she was all legit I suspect it was forgotten about. This is a small town we live in so the police operate differently.

 

[Digital Nomad]

I think by chance a patrol car was passing and contacted the ambulance service. My wife told the police her insurance would look after the small dent left in the car and she was just glad to see the girl was okay. No idea what happened to her but as she was all legit I suspect it was forgotten about. This is a small town we live in so the police operate differently.

What a great attitude your wife had. If the same thing happened in the USA, one would not only make the girl pay but would have sued her for emotional pain and suffering. It is horrible here with car accidents these days.

 

[earlyretirement]

I think by chance a patrol car was passing and contacted the ambulance service. My wife told the police her insurance would look after the small dent left in the car and she was just glad to see the girl was okay. No idea what happened to her but as she was all legit I suspect it was forgotten about. This is a small town we live in so the police operate differently.

You and your wife are good people. Kudos to you for only caring about the girl and if she was ok. I wish there was more of that in this world.

This is totally true. My assistant had a friend who recently got in a car accident. His friend hit several cars that were parked on the side of the road. I'm not sure if he was drunk or not but no one was hurt. There was a lot of damage to his own car and parked cars. The police showed up and I was shocked to hear that the police officer that arrived to the scene accepted a bribe not to do a breathalyzer test. He had already parked his damaged car but the police asked him for a bribe and he did not have enough cash and the police told him to send money to a bank alias via transfer.

I asked if they were concerned about a paper trail and my assistant said this is very normal here. I am still trying to figure out if this is a positive or a negative!

Apparently one of the people that had their car parked and was damaged was making a scene and the police officer told them to calm down as if the person was drinking and driving the insurance would not cover the damage. He said the person calmed down after the police said that. Is this the norm here? Will insurance cover the damage if the person was drinking alcohol?

Things like this are VERY common. I have a very close friend and a similar thing happened to him in January 2024. A mutual acquaintance of ours was drinking so she had her friend drive her car that wasn't drinking alcohol. Or maybe she was drinking but less than our friend. She did the same thing. She didn't see cars on the street (so maybe she WAS drunk) and she hit about 8 cars parked at the side of the road. She was panicked and called my friend who lived very close. He showed up at the scene and the police were already there. There were many angry people and he showed me photos of all the crashed cars.

The girls were panicked but my friend handled everything. The police asked for a bribe. @Spend Thrift ask your assistant if his friend was a female? Small world!

 

[Betsy Ross]

You and your wife are good people. Kudos to you for only caring about the girl and if she was ok. I wish there was more of that in this world.

Things like this are VERY common. I have a very close friend and a similar thing happened to him in January 2024. A mutual acquaintance of ours was drinking so she had her friend drive her car that wasn't drinking alcohol. Or maybe she was drinking but less than our friend. She did the same thing. She didn't see cars on the street (so maybe she WAS drunk) and she hit about 8 cars parked at the side of the road. She was panicked and called my friend who lived very close. He showed up at the scene and the police were already there. There were many angry people and he showed me photos of all the crashed cars.

The girls were panicked but my friend handled everything. The police asked for a bribe. @Spend Thrift ask your assistant if his friend was a female? Small world!

But it sounds like the police do arrest people as well. I would avoid ANY interaction with the police if possible. Here is an article about a girl that got arrested for being drunk and ended up dead which sounds suspicious.

Sobreseyeron a los cinco policías acusados de haber matado a Daiana Abregú en una comisaría: la Justicia determinó que la joven se suicidó

Los investigadores concluyeron que en la muerte de la mujer, fallecida en junio de 2022 en una dependencia policial de Laprida, no hubo “intervención de terceras personas”

www.infobae.com

 

[Russell]

But it sounds like the police do arrest people as well. I would avoid ANY interaction with the police if possible. Here is an article about a girl that got arrested for being drunk and ended up dead which sounds suspicious.

Sobreseyeron a los cinco policías acusados de haber matado a Daiana Abregú en una comisaría: la Justicia determinó que la joven se suicidó

Los investigadores concluyeron que en la muerte de la mujer, fallecida en junio de 2022 en una dependencia policial de Laprida, no hubo “intervención de terceras personas”

www.infobae.com

How horrible for this young woman's family. The courts ruled foul play was not involved but my wife who formally worked in Argentina said never to trust the police in Argentina.

 

[MikeYoung]

A stupid taxi almost hit me today in Soho. If I didn't jump out of the way. He ran a red light at Gorriti and Thames. The worst thing is he was angry at me even though I had a green light and he ran the red light! One of my least favorite things here is how bad the pedestrians have it.

 

[Scottishgaucho]

One of my least favorite things here is how bad the pedestrians have it.

I have to agree. Even in our small town of around 90,000 people the roads are very busy. All the main junctions with traffic lights don't have any pedestrian crossings at all. It's either a case of spotting a gap and runnng for your life or hoping a kind driver stops and waves you to cross.

 

[Digital Nomad]

A stupid taxi almost hit me today in Soho. If I didn't jump out of the way. He ran a red light at Gorriti and Thames. The worst thing is he was angry at me even though I had a green light and he ran the red light! One of my least favorite things here is how bad the pedestrians have it.

I have to agree. Even in our small town of around 90,000 people the roads are very busy. All the main junctions with traffic lights don't have any pedestrian crossings at all. It's either a case of spotting a gap and runnng for your life or hoping a kind driver stops and waves you to cross.

I have had a few near miss situations with cars and taxis. I actually had a motorcycle hit me in Palermo. He just rushed off. I didn't get hurt but it was annoying as he was trying to get around cars and I was crossing at a crosswalk and he rushed and ran the light.

@Scottishgaucho interesting to hear that even in a small town it is like this. I mistakenly assumed it was only in Buenos Aires. My novia tells me in the provinces and smaller towns life is more slow paced and people are friendlier than Buenos Aires.

 

[Katherina]

This is also one of the things I do not like about BA. Drivers never yield to pedestrians like many major cities. Sure other places are worse like Vietnam but sometimes even buses run red lights and they always speed up sometimes even after a light has turned red. And they always honk their horns as if they are in the right. I witnessed the other day a guy riding his bike in a bike lane and getting hit by a car. One would be crazy to ride a bike in some of these streets even if they have a bike lane. No one seems to stay in their lane and see a lot of people on their phones while driving.

 

[Scottishgaucho]

@Scottishgaucho interesting to hear that even in a small town it is like this. I mistakenly assumed it was only in Buenos Aires. My novia tells me in the provinces and smaller towns life is more slow paced and people are friendlier than Buenos Aires.

Not really. If anything, the standard of driving is worse here than I've witnessed in the capital. We're only a hundred miles away right enough.

 

[StatusNomadicus]

This is also one of the things I do not like about BA

if everyone started breaking one small item on cars that try to hit you, every time they break the traffic law, the behavior would regulate itself out of society. sometimes culture needs to be reinforced by locals when police and gov't fail to protect us. there are a lot of things about Argentina that are shocking that people tolerate unnecessarily, like neighbors playing loud music until 4am, dogs barking incessantly or being off-leash and chasing pedestrians, drivers running red lights, etc. - sometimes street justice is a net-positive for society, although the commies will cry about it and act like you're the evil one 😉

 

[earlyretirement]

if everyone started breaking one small item on cars that try to hit you, every time they break the traffic law, the behavior would regulate itself out of society. sometimes culture needs to be reinforced by locals when police and gov't fail to protect us. there are a lot of things about Argentina that are shocking that people tolerate unnecessarily, like neighbors playing loud music until 4am, dogs barking incessantly or being off-leash and chasing pedestrians, drivers running red lights, etc. - sometimes street justice is a net-positive for society, although the commies will cry about it and act like you're the evil one 😉

Totally agree about some things just being shocking that people tolerate there and other places in Latin America as well. So many things I love about Buenos Aires but so many things that annoy me to no end like the horrible drivers running red lights and almost hitting or hitting pedestrians. I remember when two of my kids were born there, we would be pushing our babies around in strollers and even when a light was clearly red, taxis and other cars would run them. We had a few close calls even being very careful. I actually think it has gotten a bit better in Buenos Aires compared to 20 years ago or so.

It's a real shock for some people just how bad they are with pedestrians as in the USA we are overly careful but here most don't care. I agree about the loud music until very late. Things like this in the USA or other places you have the police that will prevent this sort of thing but in BA it can be brutal.

 

[MikeYoung]

Totally agree about some things just being shocking that people tolerate there and other places in Latin America as well. So many things I love about Buenos Aires but so many things that annoy me to no end like the horrible drivers running red lights and almost hitting or hitting pedestrians. I remember when two of my kids were born there, we would be pushing our babies around in strollers and even when a light was clearly red, taxis and other cars would run them. We had a few close calls even being very careful. I actually think it has gotten a bit better in Buenos Aires compared to 20 years ago or so.

It's a real shock for some people just how bad they are with pedestrians as in the USA we are overly careful but here most don't care. I agree about the loud music until very late. Things like this in the USA or other places you have the police that will prevent this sort of thing but in BA it can be brutal.

Totally agree about loud music. Locals tolerance to this seem to be high. BA is great but some downsides also that can annoy you.

 

[James Bond]

My girlfriend's sister got hit by a car today crossing the street in Palermo. Worst drivers in the world.