Scooter Driving Lessons

“Most of them ignored the importance of Road safety.”

One has to really scratch their heads over Indonesian attitudes about driving and road safety.  Seriously, it is a joke.  It would almost be funny if it didn't so often end up with  tragic consequences.   

For one example, it is not against the law to drink and drive here.  You can be flat out drunk out of your mind and that's not a problem.  What is against the law is losing control of your vehicle.  So, the poor guy who has a tire blow out, or hits a pot hole and loses control of his car, bike, whatever, is at fault if this results in an accident.  Whereas the mindless drunk who forces somebody off the road, or forces someone else to lose control of their vehicle gets away with it.   

Stop signs and red lights are more a suggestion than a demand, and when has anyone seen a driver yield the right of way to an ambulance with siren wailing and light flashing? 

And who hasn't almost killed themselves with these piles of dirt or stones in the middle of the road where a work project is going on with the only warning being yet another larger stone further into the road with a pathetic little stick, and maybe a bit of plastic tied to the top of it. 

“The importance of road safety?”  In Indonesia?  I'm sorry, but that is an oxymoron, at least in Bali anyway. 

I don't care how skilled, how careful, or how fast your reflexes are.  If you drive a motorbike in Bali, you are taking your life in your hands.  For some folks there is no other choice, but when there is a choice, common sense dictates to avoid that means of transport.