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THE_ROAD_OF_BALI

                                       June 26, 2006

  The roads of Bali are typically
  (though not always) very narrow:
  Two lanes with no shoulders or
  sidewalks are quite common.

             When a sidewalk exists, it's
             often too damaged to use
             reliably (flag stones over drainage
             ditches).

                 Pedestrians watch their step,
                 and must step out into the
                 street frequently

             The larger cities have wider
             roads, e.g. four lane highways,
             but even more traffic.

  Vehicle size is polarized: there are
  many small motorscooters and some
  bicycles; and many large SUVs, and
  very few things in-between.


  The roads are in many
  places, very crowded.

  They ride on the left side                                      
  of the road.                       Though more accurately: a close       
                                     observation shows a statistical       
                                     tendency to ride toward the left.     
                                                                           
                                     Really they ride                
                                     all over the place.

                                        They buzz around each other,
                                        swarms of motorbikes, and
                                        irregular lines of SUVs.

   Very little attempt has been
   made to implement the kind of
   cautious driving that American
   rules are supposed to mandate.

   Some use their side mirrors, but very
   few do shoulder checks on lane changes.

   Instead they steer sonically, amid
   a chorus of short "here I am" beeps,
   continuously fired off without rancor.
                                     
   Many drivers seem to have an automatic     
   habit of jerking slightly away from        
   the sound of a nearby beep.                
                                              
         (Both the large and                 
         small traffic seem to
         have that habit.)


I would be interested to know the
collison and fatality rates...


During the month that I
was there, I saw one man
wounded, but only one.

I don't remember hearing
any stories of friends or
relatives killed in crashes.


My suspicion is that traffic there
is dangerous, and per capita per
mile probably worse than the United       In Bali, I was willing
States, but perhaps not all that          to ride bicycles and
much worse.                               motorscooters there, but
                                          I would not attempt to
                                          drive a larger vehicle.
There's nothing absolute about what
sort of driving style is "dangerous":
that changes with social context,
and that anarchic "sonic steering"
may work tolerably well in Bali,
among a relatively un-aggressive,
cooperative people, even though
if it were imported into the United
States it could be disastrous.                         ANARCHY
                                   
  If anything, US roadways are a      
  convenient example of the failure of
  anarchy, and the need for tightly        
  regulated individual behavior.           
                                           
                                           
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