Driving in Cambodia

Driving in Cambodia is crazy!  They don't obey the traffic laws.  Whats even worst is they don't care for other peoples safety let alone their own.  People drive very fast like they are in a hurry to go somewhere, despite the fact that they are late for everything.  Be careful whether you are driving, walking, taking a motodup just be careful.

Busy traffic times are Mornings, Lunch time and especially about 5 to 6 pm.  Be sure to drive slow and take it easy while driving cause there's a lot you got to look out for such as:
-sewer holes in the road;
-pot holes;
-sand or debris on the road
-crazy drivers coming at you from every direction
-drunk drivers Motors, cars, trucks, semi trucks. (everybody)

If you go out and drink at night be careful because from 10 to 2 am is when a lot of people are drunk and driving home.  After that it dies down, I advice to stay away from St. 272 where Cambodia beer is.  It is wild at night there. 

Try to get to know the roads and pick the safest route for you.

many people in Cambodia that drive does not know how to drive, they buy their licenses. example: they will drive their motorbikes with broken side mirrors and no lights , with their kids on the bike zooming.

For those driving SUV , they are kind of impolite. streets are small with crowded tuktuk and they come zooming in.

I guess, its drivers in a wrong time in a wrong place. lol

One thing I learned early in my life here in Cambodia is to grow eyes on all sides of your head. Expect the unexpected. People will come out side streets, driveways, etc without looking for cross traffic. Right of way is who ever has the largest vehicle. They expect motos to yield to cars. (They hate me, I will not yield). Be especially careful at night - avoid major routes like 4, between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville. There are no police, no hospitals, and basically no rules. Road courtesy does NOT exist. These people drive as if they are in a vacuum, with no one else on the road. They do understand the upraised middle finger, though! LOL!

I lived in Thailand and have found that drivers here are on a par with the Thais. The biggest difference though is not the drivers it is the lack of traffic management by the authorities. They appear to operate a turn about policy at crossings.  It appears to work most of the time. The exception is rush hours and also if roads are closed either due to roadworks or flooding.

Q: What do you think of the way people drive in Cambodia? How different is it from your home country?
A: A lot different and crazy. Like everyone says, they don't obey the laws and police. Even though there is a law, government don't let people teach the law. It means that they don't need the law.

Q: Respecting the road safety rules, driving etiquette such as general courtesy, speed excess… what are the characteristics of the driving style in Cambodia?
A: They don't follow the traffic lights.... lines on the load..everything. the Lines are just display.
There are law but those law are just useless like you mention above.

Q: Share with us the difficulties one may face when driving in Cambodia: peak hours, road conditions, accident, etc. and your advice to drive safely in the country.
A: Keep eyes open very big always and try to protect yourself first.
Don't try to fight with local people. Even though we do right way, they are not our side.
Install the camera in your car and join the insurance in case of accident.

I complained the matters to Cambodian friends, and they say Cambodian people also know their problem but they have never tried to fix it until somebody does it first. They are afraid of being sacrificed themselves.

They learn from their parents or just hop on a motorbike and learn from scratch. They look forward, rarely if ever use their rearview mirrors and look for openings in the road ahead of them. People will turn in front of you, run stop lights, drive down the wrong side of the road or even park in the road.

One thing that does no good at all is judging the way people drive in Cambodia. I know a guy who got into 5 accidents in 3 months because he couldn't adapt to their driving style and got angry every time he saw a Cambodian doing something "wrong." Anything can happen, so expect anything. You need to keep a cool head and drive defensively. I haven't had an accident in 9 years, so I must be doing something right.

i noticed that most of the drivers are in a hurry to go in their respective destination and in other areas they do not give right of way to opposing vehicles that resulted to a heavy traffic.....

Driving style in Cambodia ? Is that a trick question because there are no driving style in Cambodia.Everyday is a totally new experience, at least you don't get bored on the road.

First to drive in Cambodia ya need a license (cough, cough). Though some of those papers they call riels seems to be an adequate substitution to that legal requirement.  Secondly you must learn the driving laws of Cambodia, but this is fairly easy, because there are none. Oh they do have somethings written down but I have found that they believe those are only recommendations and you only need to apply them if you are in the mood to do so. Thirdly, the skills development and course that are necessary to drive here are very rigorous and in depth:  open, close car door and turn the key - then if the engine starts you have passed the first part of the exam. The second half is critical, figuring out how to make the vehicle move. Once you have succeeded in motion - you have passed and are immediately permitted to expand your skills on the open road. Some even continue to do advance studies for a graduate degree. A degree in the stopping of the motion of a car. You can tell the drivers who have gone even further - so far as to receive a doctorate level of motor vehicleling - those then that have their doctorate show their expertise by actually parking their car without blocking other cars or roadways. Finally they Khmers are extremely courteous - no hand gestures, no yelling. They take pride themselves, by generally and completely being oblivious that there are or maybe others on the road with them. However, if they do become lucid at unlikely times, they will beep, beep, beep their horn to prove that they are now conscience, at least for the moment.
Driving in Khmerland is good and exciting, especially if you have mutated and developed a second or third set of eyes to use. Scary as all get out.... but fun. Ya gotta love this place!

Crazy!crazy!crazy!
Lack of laws. Polices are corrupt and only interested in making money. They don't enforce the laws. You will see them at most major traffic lights trying to catch drivers going through red lights or motoris without a helmet. For this reason people are not afraid of the laws and don't abide by the road rules. There are no speed or red light cameras.
Nobody gives way , nobody cares! It is very dangerous , if you are in cambodia for the first time , my suggestion would be not to drive yet. Wait and see. Get use to the roads and traffics first. There are many death on the road . It is an awful scene to witness and leaves night mares if you are not use to seeing this. You can book an airconditioned metered taxi for about the same price as a tuk tuk nowaday abd that will get you pretty much anywhere. The other option is a motor dup.

Hi everyone,

I've been here for 9 years and had my share of mishaps on the roads in Cambo'. I've driven in some crazy places around the world but here we have to be careful on foot just as much as driving.

I agree with all posts.... all I can add is, "don't drive unless you really have to!" Peter.

This was the best topic idea since I signed up.  Very funny OR I should probably say it would be funny if the driving "culture" here in the Kingdom of Wonder wasn't so darn dangerous.  I agree with all who warned of the many horrible situations one encounters on the roads here, but to be honest the best comments (in my opinion) came from olivieraussele, "at least you don't get bored on the roads" and Jeffgeo's whole post, ending with, "Scary as all get out but fun." and "You gotta love this place"!!!

Primarily, they drive on the right, except when it's more convenient to drive on the left.  When wishing to turn left, on approaching the intersection, cross over into the oncoming traffic at least 50 metres before the junction, and drive to the corner close to the curb.  Turn the corner on the left hand side and gradually weave between the oncoming traffic until eventually reaching the right hand lane. 

On the rare occasion that one actually halts at a traffic light, make sure you are in the right hand lane when turning left.  As the lights turn green, cut in front of the other lanes, clip the left hand curb and then continue with the weaving process as above.

Traffic lights are pretty colours but, apart from that, may be ignored.

A moto is built to carry 2 people, but this is just a guideline.  A small child can happily stand in front of the driver, clutching the handlebars.  Mother, sitting sidesaddle behind the driver and carrying the week;s shopping, can  easily hold a baby while 2 other children straddle before and after her. 

It is now compulsory for moto drivers to wear  helmets. though he only needs to do so when approaching the traffic cops on Friday evenings as they gather on corners to collect their weekly wages from the drivers.  It's 3000 reil for locals and a small fortune for foreigners.  Occasionally they will stop car drivers and demand around $10 for not wearing an helmet?!!  Moto passengers are not required to wear helmets because, presumably, they are able to bounce along the road unharmed.

Good luck with your driving experience.  Personally, I'd rather stick to hired motos and tuc-tucs.

Most of the locals do not own a driving license. Common to see underage drivers. Drive slow and you'll be fine. Driving here keeps you very alert and there has been a marked improvement in my peripheral vision. Zero road rage--no eyeballing, rude gestures, cussing and the other nonsense one associates with driving in the west. I don't actually mind the undisciplined driving, it's so much better than road rage. Compared to the west, I have seen very few accidents here--all very minor and zero fatalities.

Road rage is uncommon as one post suggests but it does happen.I've even seen military police drag a Cambodian driver out of his car and beat him up for trying to switch lanes- this when the P.M. was in town so an exception.
I've witnessed fatalities and have been involved in one. Two young drunken Cambodian lads clipped my handlebar, knocked me sideways and they tumbled down a very bad pot holed road for about 75 meters wearing only t-shirts, shorts and flip flops.
The police arrived and two ambulances. By the time they arrived, a Cambodian householder came to me and told me to bring myself and moto into his house until the police had gone because he and others had seen that it wasn't my fault but I would surely get the blame being a barang.
I was lucky, just shaken up; the guy who helped me was a saint. - especially him being Cambodian -I feel sorry for the two young lads as I don't fancy their chances of survival.
This was a few years ago; since then, I've known about and seen a few deaths on the road and some horrendous accidents including a bikers leg being swept off the road in bits!
So, some of us have to drive obviously; if you do, always wear a helmet, don't assume anything, go slow and always have a couple of dollars in Riel in a traffic cop pocket.on you. And don't drive under the influence of anything, not aything!
Sad, but my driving days here are over; anything can happen and eventually does. Be careful.

I find that many people here own cars just for the prestige of saying that they own one. My neighbor has a 90's era Toyota. So far, I have seen them drive it once. It sites in their driveway, or in the lot next to the house with a car cover on it. What  a waste of money. I read here "Khmer wear a thin veneer of Buddhism, and a heavy lining of money (gold, land, cars) as a main religion. Buddha would be appalled.

These tips apply to driving a moto in Siem Reap:

Wear a full-face helmet and closed toed shoes so you can let one foot slide along the ground at low speed when the moto is unstable; avoid rush hour traffic from 4pm-6pm; avoid driving on wet roads; go thru intersections at bicycle speed; watch out for reckless, over-confident young Khmer drivers; stay to the right unless traffic is using the right shoulder to come at you from the opposite direction; carry a copy of your passport and moto registration, not the original; carry some cash for the service fee if you are stopped by the police; carry a spare moto key in your pocket in case the police take your keys; if you drop the moto take your right hand off the throttle right away and turn off the engine; drive as if your life depended on it; ask Buddha for guidance and protection at least once a day.

I've been here since a few years and still don't understand this: how can a person cross the road WITHOUT looking in the back?? Don't they have any instinct to "save their lives"??

Here is some data from WHO.
The Global status report on road safety 2013 estimates that more than 2400 people are killed in road traffic crashes in Cambodia every year. Motorcyclists make up 70% of all these. Pedestrians are the second most vulnerable group, representing 12% of all road fatalities.

So also take care when youre walking....

I've driven quite a lot in Cambodia and Vietnam, and as a passenger in Thailand. Between these three, Vietnam was clearly the worst: congested roads, a lot of potholes and just an unbelievable number of vehicles in motion at all times.

What's the worst country in this region, in your experience, traffic-wise?

hell on wheels, the killing fields--but entertaining!! go with the flow and activate multiple senses!!

I think mainly you need to be alert at all times...and assume nothing. The motos come at you from all directions.I don't know it`s because I`m a westerner but it seems I`m invisible  so I need to be extra careful.I have seen many accidents involving motos in my 12 months in PP. The big 4 x 4`s assume you will get out of their way so will just come right out in front of you.
Most of the Cambodians know that if you are in an accident ,chances are you will get the blame even if it`s not your fault,so some of them take great delight in playing "chicken" with westerners.
I don't know what test the car drivers go through to get a license,but dear oh dear. Its either complete incompetence or plain arrogance.Maybe a bit of both. Let`s face it Asians cant drive.
It`s every man or woman for themselves out there.

Driving in Cambodia is fun. As long as you just go with the flow you'll be right. It's once you hesitate that you get into strife.

When I first came to Cambodia I was actually quite impressed with the communication that goes on between drivers, pedestrians, motos, etc. and the extent of defensive driving that occurs. It seems to me that no one wants to hit anyone and people go to great lengths to communicate their next action. Instead of being preoccupied with the "rules of the road" and "right and wrong" (as we may tend to be in the US) people are more interested in getting down the street in the quickest and the safest way possible. I think it's kind of amazing how few accidents I've seen. The accidents I have seen are truly sickening, though.

PPenh is the worst almost all 24 hrs. heavy road work everywhere. i'd even suggest parking and take a tuk-tuk.at least they're familiar with locations. i live in "snooky" where most all motobots don't care what color the traffic light is. autos (mostly Lexus,Range Rover,etc) don't yield and drive under 10 mph. it reminds me of the Chinese drivers in Frisco.
be safe!

I never drove there myself but after watching busy intersections and riding a lot of motto taxis only one phrase seems appropriate; 'controlled chaos' .  To a westerner it really is utter chaos, but somehow it works. The only noticeable rule is that the most aggressive driver in the largest vehicle has the right of way.

Another thing to think about. If you hit a dog or cat with your car, DO NOT stop! There are, of course, no leash laws, and every Khmer for blocks will come running and wailing because you hurt, or killed their family pet. First thing they want is money of course, to pay for the doctor. Know that in most small villes there are no vets to treat any animals, Second thing, the animal is most likely a stray, belonging to no one. The only thing that will happen is that you will get taken for as much money as they can squeeze out of you. It sounds heartless, but I've been through it on my way to Batambang.