- Simply Spanish - On the Road

aguja — “needle,” or a bar next to a guard house that stops cars from entering alto/siga — stop/proceed — signs commonly held up where roadwork is going on, usually helpfully colored in red or green carril — lane ceda/ceda el paso — yield right-of-way (used at onelane bridges and lanes that have to merge into traffic on highways) choque — crash contravía — going the wrong way on a one-way street derecha/derecho — “derecha” usually means right and “derecho” usually means straight, but just to torture Spanish learners, “derecho” also means right when applied to a masculine noun. “Toma el carril derecho, siga derecho, y luego gira a la derecha” — “Take the right lane, go straight, and then turn right.” metros — meters, the universal way of describing short distances. Remember that “100 metros” means one block, so one kilometer is roughly 10 blocks. muerto — “dead person,” a slang word for a speed bump (properly a “reductor,” or in some countries, “topes”) parquear — to park; more properly, in some countries, “estacionar” parqueo — parking lot peaje — tollbooth presa — traffic jam. “Vieras qué presa había en el centro hoy” — “You wouldn't believe what a traffic jam there was downtown today.” ride — ride, as in “¿Quieres un ride?” — “Do you want a ride?” In some countries, this is called “un levantón” or “un aventón.” rotonda — roundabout, traffic circle rótulo — sign (often called a “letrero” in some countries) tránsito — traffic. You might expect “tráfico,” which is widely used in other countries to mean road traffic, but in Costa Rica “Tráfico” usually means the police who regulate traffic. “Hay mucho tránsito hoy en Escazú” — “There's a lot of traffic today in Escazú.”