Not For The Faint-Hearted
By Lothar. Filed in Indonesia |
We are on the island of Java and I am talking about the amazing driving skills of the Indonesian people. We hired a driver for today and had plenty of opportunity to admire his aim!
Most of the time, he takes an imaginary center lane of the two lanes going in our direction. Indonesians drive on the left with thousands of mopeds, Vespas and motorbikes occupying the left lane and cars passing on the right. The only problem is that buses and trucks also stay in the right lane, so he has to fight for space with the mopeds, in order to pass in the left lane. He has an amazing aim and can judge to pass trucks on the right and mopeds on the left with only inches to spare on either side of our Suzuki car! There is usually enough space for mopeds to pass us on either side. At each red light, there is a timer counting down the seconds until we can launch. All the mopeds squeeze by the cars, fighting for a pole position.
The drivers must be very alert and are constantly weaving around each other. From time to time, pedestrians are standing on the center line, trying to cross the street. The cars and buses pass the adults or small schoolchildren going 55 MPH, with about 10 inches to spare. This is like standing on the Northway and cars passing you from both directions!
The moped operators are also very steady drivers. Any lack of balance, wobbling or weaving of a few inches would be fatal!
The road is shared by trucks, buses, cars, horse carriages, bikes, mopeds, bicycle rikshas (becak) and all of mankind, but no other “animals”. The moped is the main form of transportation. It moves rice harvest bundles, building material, groceries, bamboo and any kind of cargo imaginable.
Parents with one child usually make do with 3 people on one moped. What do they do when they have a second child?
Buy a second moped, I guess.
I have to admit that the average driver appears to be a much better driver than what I have witnessed in many other countries. Luckily, our driver is staying with the flow and is not going really fast. After driving us all day long and taking us to several temples, he drops us back at our hotel in Yogyakarta safely.