QUESTION:
IS IT SAFE TO RIDE YOUR MOTORBIKE IN BALI?
ANSWER:
It’s YES and NO depending on your riding skill.
There are a couple of things that you need to know about the streets in Bali. The streets are smaller compared to the big cities, and the traffic is quite busy, especially in tourist destination areas, like Canggu, and Seminyak. You should also be aware of drunk people who are riding their motorbikes, especially at night. Watch the traffic in Bali here.
If you’re planning to rent a motorbike, always check on its wheels and brake. Because a lot of rent motorbikes have a poor condition, especially in those areas. It’s also cheaper to fill your gas in the big gas station compared to local warung.
Traffic law is also applied in Bali, so you need to obey the rules. Prepare your international license, put on your helmet, check the motorbike’s condition and never break the speed limit. Unless you want to be pulled over by the police. There are some fines and penalties you need to pay if you’re breaking the traffic law. Based on the regulation, you need to pay those fines to the treasury fund of the Indonesia bank account (Bank BRI) NOT directly to the police. The fines start from IDR 250K depending on how many rules you’ve broken.
There are the top 3 incidents where the police will stop you in the middle of the road
- Riding a motorbike without a helmet
- Not wearing the seatbelt in the car
- Expired car plate
Most of the time the police will stop the foreigners, because the foreigners usually never really have their international license, so they will try to negotiate something else.
SOLUTION
If you don’t know how to ride a motorbike yet, you don’t have a driving license, or you want to stay out all night, we suggest you hire Gojek or Grab. You can download the application on your smartphone. The price is also quite competitive since Bali is actually a small island. The other added benefit is you don’t need to deal with the policeman.
You can also learn to ride a motorbike. Just make sure to do it in the empty area.