A while ago I wrote a post about driving in Bali (see Better Driving or Dancing).
I am now back here and driving again.
The most important road rule here is – patience.
We drove from Seminyak to Ubud which is about 30 kilometres and it took us one and a half hours! The roads are narrow, often in disrepair, there are few traffic lights and the traffic is peak hour from 8 am to 9 pm!
I enjoyed this drive more than going to the shops (3 km away) at home in Adelaide. It is important to note that I am on holidays and as such most of us tend to slow down and take it like it is, but, most of the other people on the roads we having a ‘normal’ day. So, why did I enjoy the drive?
Because of two things: patience and courtesy. These are the two main road rules in Bali, and they are contagious.
Just this afternoon in the heart of Ubud at peak hour traffic (remember that is all day) we say a young school girl approach the security guard/parking attendant/greeter at the restaurant we were having coffee at; in typical all over the world school girl fashion pulled on his sleeve to get his attention; he bent down and she whispered something in his ear. He then took her by the 
hand, started blowing his whistle feverishly, flapping his little orange flag about, and walked with her out onto the road, stopping all the traffic so she could get onto her school bus. All the traffic stopped! Not one horn was blow, fist waved or abuse hurled. My wife in her blog talks of ‘moments of joy’ – and perhaps this was one, but more importantly it was the absolute epitome of courtesy, manners, patience and a demonstration of values over rules.
In Australia and most western countries we have so much legislation that we tend to ignore it all – there are no ‘important’ road rules, there are just an enormous list of rules we can get a ticket for! Remember the Police telling us of the ‘fatal 5’ have not real statistical justification (other than inattention) for these being the 5 offences they choose to target – they are just the most prevalent and cost effective. (I did no, read, NO research into that last statement – prove me wrong- I dare you!)
I should actually do a lot more research in my posts, but can’t want to!
It is always my belief that the main reasons people have car crashes are:
- Inattention
- Lack of Experience/Skill
- Impatience
All of which could be fixed with adequate training. This training would start at home from birth. It would consist of a few basic lessons:
- Learning that you are not the most important person in the world.
- Learning that you are not entitled to anything, you earn it.
- Empathy.
- Generosity.
- Courtesy and manners.
- Real life is tangible not electronic.
After about 16 years of training you get to drive a car!
Our driving in Australia is akin to our lives. We rush recklessly to things that most of the time don’t matter. In that rush we forget that someone else may be rushing to something that does matter.
We don’t need better road rules we need better drivers. I am going to start a campaign to make this happen.
I am going to start with me.