Driving in Yucatan Mexico: Tips for First-Timers

I admit I was very intimidated about driving in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. On previous trips to the Yucatan, I’ve watched the Mexican traffic from the comfort of my air-conditioned bus on the way to my fancy all-inclusive and it always looked a bit crazy. But this time, we were staying off-resort and wanted to explore the area by driving a rental car around the Yucatan Peninsula.

Disclaimer
This post shares general information and our personal experience. It is not legal or safety advice. Rules, requirements, and road conditions can change and vary by region. Always verify current information with official sources and your rental/insurance provider. Use this information at your own risk.

This post contains compensated links.

14 Tips for Driving in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico

Driving from the Cancun airport to our Playa Del Carmen vacation home rental was nerve-wracking, and the first few days of driving around the Yucatan Peninsula were no better.

Slowly, but surely, driving in Mexico became less stressful and even somewhat enjoyable. There is a method to the ‘madness’ of driving in Mexico and once you understand the flow of it all, it becomes a lot easier.

If you are still planning your family trip to Mexico, here are 14 things you should know about driving in the Yucatan Peninsula:

1. Mexican Drivers Are Not Aggressive

At first it seems like most Mexican drivers are aggressive, but this is actually not the case. After getting used to driving in Mexico, I found that hardly any Mexican drivers are actually aggressive.

Mexican drivers are opportunistic; if there is an opening, even a slight one, they will take it. Once you get used to this driving behavior, you will start anticipating it and it starts to feel normal.

2. Traffic Lights Rotate Between All Four Directions

When driving in the Yucatan Peninsula, I thought it was odd that there is no such thing as a left arrow turn signal at the traffic lights. When you have a green light, it means you can drive straight or turn left. Oncoming traffic will have a red light.

The traffic signals alternate this way between all four directions. It felt inefficient and seemed to create unnecessary congestion in city traffic, which in turn, is probably why Mexican drivers need to be opportunistic.

Related: Don’t miss our list of the Best Hotels for Families in Playa del Carmen.

3. Don’t Believe Signal Lights On Cars

It’s perfectly normal for drivers in Mexico to have their turn signal on. Don’t assume a turn signal means a driver will turn until you actually see them commit to the move.

4. Do Believe Hazard Lights

Although you can be skeptical of signal lights on cars in Mexico, you must pay attention to the use of hazard lights. Mexican drivers use their hazard lights as a signal that they are slowing down fast, like for a speed bump, a police checkpoint or turning off the highway.

If the person driving in front of you turns on their hazard lights, prepare to slow down quickly.

5. Watch For Speed Bumps

There are really effective speed bumps on the roads in Mexico; locals call them ‘sleeping policemen‘. Sometimes they are a series of half-buried cannonballs and sometimes they are a large hump in the road, typically doubling as a crosswalk.

If you want to protect your rental car, be sure to slow down significantly as they are always a bigger bump than they look. Stay alert, because they aren’t always well painted or clearly marked. Watch for TOPE signs, which indicate a bump is ahead. 

6. Crosswalks

Many of the speed bumps in Mexico are shaped like a triangle with the top cut off. These speed bumps double as crosswalks, and they they often have a pedestrian sign next to them. It seems that most of the time drivers will stop for pedestrians at these cross walks, but this isn’t always the case, so be careful if you are walking!

7. Pedestrians Do Not Get The Right Of Way

As a general rule, outside of crosswalks it is rare for a driver to stop and let anyone cross the street. Pedestrians don’t expect it, nor do other drivers. Be very cautious about stopping for pedestrians as the car behind you isn’t expecting you to do it.

That said, as a family with two small children, we found a large number of taxis would stop to let us cross the street – typical Mexican hospitality!

8. “ALTO” Doesn’t Really Mean “Stop”

To be honest, I’m not sure the official rules of what an ALTO sign means in Mexico, but it looks like a stop sign and the English translation of “Alto” is “Stop”, but does anyone ever stop at an Alto sign?

Nope. Never. From what I can tell, these are treated more like yield signs. No matter how many times I did it, it felt so wrong to blow through an ALTO “stop” sign, but everyone does it.

9. One Way Streets Are Everywhere

If you are not yet familiar with your area, plan your journey ahead of time as most side streets are one-way and it is very easy to get lost. Google Maps really helps here as they will denote the direction of traffic on each street with an arrow. 

Note, you can download copies of the maps to Google Maps app before your trip, so you can use these maps without burning through your roaming data.

10. Be Prepared For An Unexpected Detour

Maybe it was just while we were here, but it seemed like there was always a lot of road construction going on. Quite often you think you are almost home and then you get detoured into an unexpected neighborhood.

Google Maps will save your bacon in this situation. If not, just follow the flow of traffic as most drivers will be trying to get back to the same place you were trying to go.

11. Merge Lanes Are Very Short

The merge from a side street to the main highway is a white-knuckle experience every time. The merge lanes are way too short and you’ll never get up to speed in time.

Locals use the shoulder lane until you have the ability to safely pull into traffic. Again, Mexican drivers are great anticipators and most will see you coming and pull into the far lane to make room for you. My advice is to take your time, signal early, and merge when it’s safe.

12. Be Prepared For Police Stops On The Highways

As a Canadian, I’m not used to police checkpoints on the highway, but you will find them a normal occurrence on the highways here. At first they made me nervous, but once I accepted their existence, driving through them was a non-event.

Whatever they were looking for, it wasn’t us and it likely won’t be you either. Note, there are always speed bumps through these checkpoints, so please slow way down.

13. Tropical Rain May Flood Streets

It occasionally rains very hard in Mexico. When this happens the roads can get very waterlogged and large pools of water form. In these conditions, almost all drivers had their hazard lights on and were driving around 70 km/h (40 mph) on the highway vs. the typical speed of 110 km/h (68 mph).

In rainy conditions on the highway, slow down and leave lots of space between vehicles around you.

In the city, the new hazard is the small lakes formed by the speed bumps. The lakes we saw were pretty deep, but vehicles were still making it through.

They must design the speed bumps to not be high enough to stall cars when it rains. Be careful though and make sure cars ahead of you are getting through before you attempt to cross.

14. Beware The Extra Costs

From the rental car companies to the gas stations, you may encounter many unexpected costs related to driving in Mexico. If you are planning to rent a car during your trip, be sure to read our blog post on renting a car in Cancun. We’ll tell you about the extra costs you may incur and what to do to avoid them. 

DON’T MISS: If you are currently in the Riviera Maya or are planning a trip there, don’t miss our blog post on the Riviera Maya with kids. It’s packed full of planning tips, exciting family activities and links to all of our Riviera Maya blog posts. It’s sure to help make your family trip a memorable one!