Driving on the Island of Kauai

I recently had the challenge of driving both on Crete and in Tuscany. I have discovered that there is a "road culture" in the different places that I have driven. The culture on the Island of Kauai is even different than Oahu's. 

Kauai's drivers are made up of a mix of locals and tourists. The tourists are trying to find their way while enjoying the phenomenal scenery, whereas the locals are extremely familiar with their environment. We drive within a very small space over and over again so we know every twist and turn. Kauai's drivers can be very courteous. They usually make way for cars entering into traffic. I learned in Europe that being courteous is dangerous because the other drivers expect you to be aggressive. Kauai's local drivers will not be surprised if you take a little extra time to help out a fellow driver.

We can be lax at stopping at crosswalks though. We come from a culture of darting across the road when there is opportunity. We don't worry because we usually don't have too much traffic.  When you are stopping at a crosswalk be aware of the car behind you and how close they are.

Driving on Kauai is easy; one main road going from the west to the north and back. You can't go around the island because of the the beautiful, protected Na Pali coastline. It does get very dark at night so allow extra time and learn your turn off from the highway. Vacationing on Kauai does necessitate renting a car unless you are very adventuresome and don't mind infrequent buses. Driving is easy for almost everyone here because we don't have too many people on Kauai. The most difficult part of being a Kauai driver is resisting the temptation to peer at the world class scenery!

By: Linda Sylvester