The tragic death of Deivy Carlos Abreu Quezada, a Santiago-based garbage collection truck driver on Sunday, April 19, has pulled a long-buried, contentious conversation back into the national spotlight: the pervasive question of motorcyclist and motorcycle taxi (locally known as motoconchista) behavior, and its ties to road violence and systemic traffic chaos across the Dominican Republic.
For millions of Dominican citizens, motorcycle taxis have evolved from an informal transit option to an absolute daily necessity. Riders rely on the compact two-wheelers to cut through congested urban streets, cutting commute times and reaching destinations that larger public vehicles cannot access easily. But the fatal incident in Santiago has reframed public anger toward the sector, leading to widespread condemnation that has split opinions across transportation groups, unions, and everyday road users.
Hoy Digital interviewed dozens of stakeholders from motorcyclist unions, public and private driver associations, and regular passengers to unpack competing perspectives on the role of motoconchistas on Dominican roads, and why the broader community has come to vilify the majority of workers in the sector.
Óscar Almánzar, president of the National Federation of Motorcycle Taxi Drivers (Fenamoto), the country’s largest union for motoconchistas, outlined the strict vetting process his organization uses to regulate registered riders. All members are required to submit formal registrations with government-issued ID, contact information, and residential addresses, before undergoing a background screening. “Then, they have to bring a certificate of good conduct, they have to have a valid license, they have to have active insurance and all their paperwork up to date,” Almánzar explained. When conflicts arise between riders and passengers or other road users, incidents are reported directly to federation headquarters, where a formal investigation is launched to resolve the case through the local stop’s general secretary.
In response to widespread public outrage sparked by Abreu Quezada’s death, Almánzar announced Fenamoto is re-evaluating its 26-year-old motto “One blow to one, one blow to all” that has long defined the group’s culture of solidarity. The slogan will be put to a vote at a national assembly of union leaders, with a proposed replacement already under discussion: “One person’s cause is everyone’s cause,” rebranded to signal the group’s commitment to unity without the implication of retaliatory violence that the original slogan has come to represent in public discourse. “It’s not a matter of violence, but of solidarity among us,” Almánzar clarified of the original motto.
Other organized motoconchista leaders echoed the pushback against broad-brush condemnation of the entire sector. Manuel García, a member of the Los Prados Motorcycle Taxi Drivers Union in the National District, emphasized that registered, organized riders are simply everyday workers, not inherently violent actors. “We’re not all the same,” García said while waiting for passengers on Doctor Defilló Street, at the corner of John F. Kennedy. “Now, because of what happened in Santiago, they want to blame all the motorcyclists in the entire country,” he complained.
This sentiment was echoed by an anonymous member of the Núñez de Cáceres Avenue Motorcycle Taxi Drivers Association (Asomonuca), who noted that long-serving organized riders have developed into transit professionals who prioritize safety and compliance. The source explained that members of his association strictly adhere to speed limits and traffic light regulations to avoid endangering themselves, their passengers, and other road users.
Despite these assurances from organized labor groups, many private and public vehicle drivers say disorder rooted in reckless motorcycle behavior remains a daily hazard on Dominican roads. Venancio Urbino, a private car driver, described unregulated motorcycle operation as “a cancer” that plagues every trip. “Every time I see and hear them, I stay calm until they pass. If I hit them, I’m in trouble; if they hit me, I’m in trouble,” he said.
Anthony Ariel, a public bus driver who operates the route from the Santo Domingo Zoo to Duarte Avenue, acknowledged that “not all of them are the same” but still described most motorcyclists as fundamentally reckless. Even passengers shared critical perspectives: Wellington Contreras, a regular motorcycle taxi passenger, argued that poor road behavior stems from a lack of systemic and rider education, placing partial blame on both the government and unions for failing to enforce stricter standards. “Although the government bears some of the blame, I believe it’s an issue of education. Unions also need to better regulate their members,” Contreras said.
As Hoy’s reporting team canvassed the National District to collect public perspectives, a new crash illustrated the ongoing scope of the problem: a multiple collision involving four motorcyclists at the intersection of Núñez de Cáceres Avenue and Font Bernard in the San Gerónimo sector left multiple people injured, underscoring the immediate risk of unregulated road behavior.
National statistics paint a grim long-term picture: data from the Dominican Republic’s National Statistics Office shows that between 2019 and 2023, the country recorded an average of 1,711 fatal traffic accidents per year, many of which are tied to motorcycle incidents.
When asked for comment on the growing national outcry, the National Institute of Transit and Land Transportation (Intrant) clarified its regulatory role, noting that on-the-ground oversight, enforcement, and penalties for traffic violations fall under the jurisdiction of the General Directorate of Transit and Land Transportation Safety (Digesett).
Intrant officials emphasized that the Dominican Republic already has a robust regulatory framework for motorcycle operation: Law 63-17 on Mobility, Land Transportation, and Transit mandates helmets, valid driver licenses, active insurance, and compliance with all traffic rules, while Intrant has established additional standards for approved helmets and legal motorcycle taxi stops. “Therefore, the main challenge is not the absence of rules, but their effective enforcement,” the agency said.
As the national regulatory body, Intrant stated it continues to advance road safety initiatives including public education campaigns, driver training programs, and system reforms to reduce fatal incidents. The agency added that long-term improvement will require coordinated cross-institutional action, combining regulation, public education, and consistent enforcement to change risky driver behavior across all sectors.
