Bali Expat Forum - Bali Travel Forum

Now your typical Balinese person seems, on the face of it, to be quite easy-going, not particularly excitable in any way - not to say placid. In fact there doesn't seem to be very much that can really get them going, if you understand what I mean.

And this is a completely lovable and enviable trait in my eyes at least.

Now traveling around on the roads I've witnessed some quite hair-raising activity accompanied by many near-death situations and this was all accepted in a fashion I can only describe as laid-back to the point of carelessness.

Two trucks barreling head-on at each other at a combined speed of about 110mph and motorcycle drivers overtaking both of them at the same time with Bakso (meatball soup) sellers on one side blocking half the road. Nobody bats an eyelid.

But if you really want to wind a Balinese up just stop at a pedestrian crossing and let some old lady go across. Yep, gets them all frothing. Nobody here stops at a pedestrian crossing - ever! So if you, the other people on the road think you're crazy. The really hilarious thing is that the pedestrian thinks your nuts too - they don't know how to deal with this totally new situation.

I frequently stop to let a car out of a turning or someone cross the road and it takes me waving them on for a few seconds before they actually "get it" and go.

However what is annoying and dangerous is when I am letting someone go and motorbikes still insist on passing me. Maybe it would be safer to make them wait for a break in the traffic.

Good observation markit. You're right in that they get kind of baffled as to why you're stopping. It's not just Bali, it seems to be everywhere in Indo. For a pedestrian crossing to be a safe crossing area, it usually needs a guy there dressed as a satpam who walks out first and brings traffic to a halt before getting people to cross.

Ct

But if you really want to wind a Balinese up just stop at a pedestrian crossing and let some old lady go across. Yep, gets them all frothing. Nobody here stops at a pedestrian crossing - ever! So if you, the other people on the road think you're crazy. The really hilarious thing is that the pedestrian thinks your nuts too - they don't know how to deal with this totally new situation

Absolutely true. I still try and stop for pedestrians but bear in mind that no-one here regards this normal behaviour or has any experience of this. Why they paint them I don't know.

Off the the road the people of this nation are perhaps the most generous, considerate, gracious and humble people you'll meet anywhere on the planet. These people never get in a car or on a bike and drive. Instead lookalikes inhabit the roads and they are the exact opposite.

According to the police, road deaths in Bali have jumped to 44 on an average month this year (31 last year).

You mean 44 road deaths PER MONTH?

tintin wrote:You mean 44 road deaths PER MONTH?

Yep, it was in the Jakarta Post the other day. And the injury rate is horrendous. I'm guessing the death rate would be much higher too if you were able to ride faster on many of the roads.