Times change and laws change in Bali. When I moved here in 2003, renting a scooter was one of the first things I did. Going out in the evenings, I’d often forget to turn my headlights off and sometime the next day, a stranger would remind me. People often told the police might use that as an excuse for pulling me over. Officially, drivers had to wait till it was ‘dark’ to turn their headlights on. I asked Ika what ‘dark’ meant in Indonesian. She said when it was ‘getting dark’ you were allowed to use your headlights.
Now its all changed, and drivers are encouraged to use their headlight all day! Ika told me she thinks this is silly, as you will not be able to see the lights on a sunny day. I think it is overkill, but definitely a positive step, in allowing the rider the option of when to use the headlights. I often see locals flying down the road at night with no lights on.
Other things that could improve the driving conditions over here, would be to force everyone to take a driving test (including westerners), AND sit through a class on ‘traffic jam logic’, because half of the traffic jams that occur here, happen not becasue of the traffic volumn, but because no one is using the head.
Here’s more from BaliDiscovery.
