Balinese Road Etiquette

After a week in Bali, I’ve both ridden in a car and on the back of a motorbike. (The down payment on one of these motorbikes is about $30 USD.) Most roads have one lane going in each direction, and sometimes not even that. Everyone drives at whatever speed they feel most comfortable, and therefore, there is usually a lot of passing and being passed. And although we usually stayed between 40 and 80 km/hr, going around 60 km/hr on a small motorbike is an exhilarating experience. I was wearing a helmet, although I’m not sure how much that would actually help if there was a serious accident. More important was that my driver, Dive Master Ketut, was a husband and father of four and needed to provide for his family, so I knew that he would drive safely. That said, the weave of bikes , cars, trucks, and pedestrians had more elements of chaos than order, and I was happy that I was not driving. And finally, to add another variable, the potholes scattered throughout the roads are avoided by all travelers adding an extra bend to the already complicated weave.