Terrifying driving countries and experiences
Discussion
Following on from XJSJohn complaining of the roads between Surabaya and Banyuwangi discussing hire cars I figured I'd move the discussion here.
I've driven the road John mentions, the wife decided we should drive from Jakarta to Bali for Christmas / New Year.
This is a 740 mile drive that maps suggests takes 26 hours, we did the return journey over 2 weeks.
We stopped along the way at Semarang, Surabaya for Christmas, Mt. Bromo, Gilimanuk and then Bali for New Year, return journey was Banyuwangi, Jogjakarta and then home from there.
Only once did we drive at night, the drive from Jogjakarta is 11 hours and with a maximum of 12 hours of daylight here we had to do a couple of hours in the dark on the outskirts of Jakarta.
In general, the roads are awful, but more terrifying is the buses and trucks, regularly attacking you on the wrong side of the road, they will overtake each other on blind bends and disregard anything in front of them unless it is bigger.
Every roadside is littered with stalls selling random fried foods so no escape route either.
There have been instances here where buses have careered out of control into the local population, bus driver legs it, gets caught and quite literally is lynched by the local mob.
There is no MOT or equivalent here, the police have a fairly lackadaisical approach to upholding the law. Quite frankly, a truly terrible place to drive and not something I would wish to repeat.
I do drive here although not much, I usually just sit in the back and let the driver take the stress.
I've driven the road John mentions, the wife decided we should drive from Jakarta to Bali for Christmas / New Year.
This is a 740 mile drive that maps suggests takes 26 hours, we did the return journey over 2 weeks.
We stopped along the way at Semarang, Surabaya for Christmas, Mt. Bromo, Gilimanuk and then Bali for New Year, return journey was Banyuwangi, Jogjakarta and then home from there.
Only once did we drive at night, the drive from Jogjakarta is 11 hours and with a maximum of 12 hours of daylight here we had to do a couple of hours in the dark on the outskirts of Jakarta.
In general, the roads are awful, but more terrifying is the buses and trucks, regularly attacking you on the wrong side of the road, they will overtake each other on blind bends and disregard anything in front of them unless it is bigger.
Every roadside is littered with stalls selling random fried foods so no escape route either.
There have been instances here where buses have careered out of control into the local population, bus driver legs it, gets caught and quite literally is lynched by the local mob.
There is no MOT or equivalent here, the police have a fairly lackadaisical approach to upholding the law. Quite frankly, a truly terrible place to drive and not something I would wish to repeat.
I do drive here although not much, I usually just sit in the back and let the driver take the stress.
never driven in circumstances that bad, but had a truly horrifying cab ride on the island of Madeira once, cab driver would just hit his horn, if no other reply in more than 3 nanoseconds he was out and round other vehicles on blind bends.
in the space of an hour, we must have overtaken 20 other users, coming face to face with someone at least 3 times.
I managed to read the road signs incorrectly once and took my range rover down a cycle path, thankfully for less than 100 yards and not with and bikleysts on it.
I can say that after 3 months here, the standard of driving in New Zealand is not great, especially on the motorways, they do love to hog a lane
in the space of an hour, we must have overtaken 20 other users, coming face to face with someone at least 3 times.
I managed to read the road signs incorrectly once and took my range rover down a cycle path, thankfully for less than 100 yards and not with and bikleysts on it.
I can say that after 3 months here, the standard of driving in New Zealand is not great, especially on the motorways, they do love to hog a lane
I usually spend 6 months of the year in Thailand.
It has got better over the last few years, tbf to the Thais.
However, it's still mentally exhausting driving over here; I refer to it as Wacky Races...think of the most insane, dangerous things possible and then expect it to happen on every journey.
There's a reason why the roads are the second most dangerous in the World...I'd never seen a dead body till I started coming here...I've seen more than I can remember now...all on the roads here.
It has got better over the last few years, tbf to the Thais.
However, it's still mentally exhausting driving over here; I refer to it as Wacky Races...think of the most insane, dangerous things possible and then expect it to happen on every journey.
There's a reason why the roads are the second most dangerous in the World...I'd never seen a dead body till I started coming here...I've seen more than I can remember now...all on the roads here.
Pericoloso said:
Italy.
No more detail required.
Took an A5 to Milan and Como, apart from the tiny roads around the lake and the minuscule spiral drive to the car park of our apartment that the car wouldn't fit around I thought it was OK.No more detail required.
Being driven around Naples by a bonkers taxi driver was quite exciting.
Spoolling
Edited by Jakarta on Thursday 5th April 05:25
Im in Vietnam right now .
Hanoi has 5 million scooters on the roads,it is total mayhem, the stuff you see carried on the backs of them, air conditioners,wardrobes,cages of ducks, four members of the family.
Traffic lights are optional, and to cross the road you just take a deep breath and go,and hope the river of motorbikes will part and flow around you!
However, you don’t really seem to get traffic jams, and the traffic seems to keep on moving,maybe we could learn from this?
Hanoi has 5 million scooters on the roads,it is total mayhem, the stuff you see carried on the backs of them, air conditioners,wardrobes,cages of ducks, four members of the family.
Traffic lights are optional, and to cross the road you just take a deep breath and go,and hope the river of motorbikes will part and flow around you!
However, you don’t really seem to get traffic jams, and the traffic seems to keep on moving,maybe we could learn from this?
bristolracer said:
Im in Vietnam right now .
Hanoi has 5 million scooters on the roads,it is total mayhem, the stuff you see carried on the backs of them, air conditioners,wardrobes,cages of ducks, four members of the family.
Traffic lights are optional, and to cross the road you just take a deep breath and go,and hope the river of motorbikes will part and flow around you!
However, you don’t really seem to get traffic jams, and the traffic seems to keep on moving,maybe we could learn from this?
Similar arrangement here, millions of motorcycles in Jakarta. They seem to part like water and in general as a car driver you tend to ignore them.Hanoi has 5 million scooters on the roads,it is total mayhem, the stuff you see carried on the backs of them, air conditioners,wardrobes,cages of ducks, four members of the family.
Traffic lights are optional, and to cross the road you just take a deep breath and go,and hope the river of motorbikes will part and flow around you!
However, you don’t really seem to get traffic jams, and the traffic seems to keep on moving,maybe we could learn from this?
They do help trying to get through a junction, they're a bit more adventurous than cars poking their nose out until a car slows and once the first bike has gone through, a wave of them follows and you get carried along in the car.
Accidents seem to be very few, and usually not too disastrous. Mostly caused by the fact that nobody is ever sure of others drivers ability, awareness or commitment to any progress. Which can be very frustrating as a UK experienced driver, they tend to just dither and creep forward until eventually one of them commits to the move.
Doesn't always work though, I also ride a Husqvarna Nuda here, and despite the size, I still get cars trying to squeeze through gaps and end up nudging your front wheel, despite being static.
Also, the bar end mirrors get knocked on a daily basis, I had to change them from extending sideways to upwards only.
Anywhere in Egypt is pretty bad but in particular the road from Cairo to Alexandria, the amount of accidents i have seen on that stretch is unreal. One that stands out is a minibus full of women and kids which rolled with bodies flung everywhere!
They are complete muppets on the road, turning lights off at night to save the battery etc.
Driving around Basra was also pretty bad for obvious reasons.
They are complete muppets on the road, turning lights off at night to save the battery etc.
Driving around Basra was also pretty bad for obvious reasons.
Egypt has been pretty bad every time I've been, certainly worse than Italy.
Dominican Republic was also quite hairy, 1000's of motorcyclists riding at 60mph + overtaking against oncoming traffic, not a single crash helmet between them.
Most countries will be a shock to UK drivers, as we are so uptight about everything here, we seem to have to make a big deal about the slightest blip in someone else's driving standards, whereas when you go abroad, they have a completely different attitude and just get on with it.
Dominican Republic was also quite hairy, 1000's of motorcyclists riding at 60mph + overtaking against oncoming traffic, not a single crash helmet between them.
Most countries will be a shock to UK drivers, as we are so uptight about everything here, we seem to have to make a big deal about the slightest blip in someone else's driving standards, whereas when you go abroad, they have a completely different attitude and just get on with it.
Italy.
First trip there working with a local who drove a battered MK2 Golf. She just bumped a Mercedes along a bit with her car to make more parking space.
I echo the earlier post about a Naples taxi ride.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus could be interesting. I particularly admired drivers of larger vehicles like 4 X 4s who would create a new lane just for themselves on the edge of the road if they couldn't get by. Hey it worked! And hardly anyone died.
First trip there working with a local who drove a battered MK2 Golf. She just bumped a Mercedes along a bit with her car to make more parking space.
I echo the earlier post about a Naples taxi ride.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus could be interesting. I particularly admired drivers of larger vehicles like 4 X 4s who would create a new lane just for themselves on the edge of the road if they couldn't get by. Hey it worked! And hardly anyone died.
bristolracer said:
Im in Vietnam right now .
Hanoi has 5 million scooters on the roads,it is total mayhem, the stuff you see carried on the backs of them, air conditioners,wardrobes,cages of ducks, four members of the family.
Traffic lights are optional, and to cross the road you just take a deep breath and go,and hope the river of motorbikes will part and flow around you!
However, you don’t really seem to get traffic jams, and the traffic seems to keep on moving,maybe we could learn from this?
We have just left Vietnam this morning. We are traveling around now and first started in Bangkok. I thought Bangkok was mad but it looks calm compared to Vietnam!Hanoi has 5 million scooters on the roads,it is total mayhem, the stuff you see carried on the backs of them, air conditioners,wardrobes,cages of ducks, four members of the family.
Traffic lights are optional, and to cross the road you just take a deep breath and go,and hope the river of motorbikes will part and flow around you!
However, you don’t really seem to get traffic jams, and the traffic seems to keep on moving,maybe we could learn from this?
However the traffic does all seam to get past with out incident. Albeit by road or pavement, direction of traffic doesn’t seam to matter either
Taaaaang said:
I usually spend 6 months of the year in Thailand.
It has got better over the last few years, tbf to the Thais.
However, it's still mentally exhausting driving over here; I refer to it as Wacky Races...think of the most insane, dangerous things possible and then expect it to happen on every journey.
There's a reason why the roads are the second most dangerous in the World...I'd never seen a dead body till I started coming here...I've seen more than I can remember now...all on the roads here.
It has got better over the last few years, tbf to the Thais.
However, it's still mentally exhausting driving over here; I refer to it as Wacky Races...think of the most insane, dangerous things possible and then expect it to happen on every journey.
There's a reason why the roads are the second most dangerous in the World...I'd never seen a dead body till I started coming here...I've seen more than I can remember now...all on the roads here.
Riding a motorbike in Thailand on the motorways is a rather 'interesting' experience.
Ukraine was interesting - general bad driving, people not giving way at pedestrian crossing and general street racing at night on the city streets.
The roadworthyness on some of the cars were interesting - a taxi I had pre-arranged had a broken windscreen (properly broken like it hit someone), rust on the boot and when the stopped for fuel he kept his engine running. Not all cars were like that but the rich/poor divide was quite obvious as some cars were quite new - Bmw, Porsche etc and the others were Ladas etc
The roadworthyness on some of the cars were interesting - a taxi I had pre-arranged had a broken windscreen (properly broken like it hit someone), rust on the boot and when the stopped for fuel he kept his engine running. Not all cars were like that but the rich/poor divide was quite obvious as some cars were quite new - Bmw, Porsche etc and the others were Ladas etc
I visited my Sister in India as a stopover from HK. My BIL was working in Delhi and met me there. He was organising transport and asked if I wanted to fly a couple of hours to Leh/Ladakh (boring) or spend 24 hours on a coach/bus/lorry on the scenic and sometimes dangerous roads. Much to the horror of Mrs V. when I told her back in the UK, we spent most of the daylight hours sitting on the roofrack/basket of the bus. 
Late 90’s Sumatra, Medan to Lake Toba, the road was not too bad, the drivers, utter nutters. Overtaking on blind corners, no lights after nightfall, buses so overloaded, people were sitting in front of the driver.
However, once off the highway things deteriorated rapidly, maybe a few K’s of smooth asphalt followed by a rutted cratered surface that went on for who knows how long, the fields next to the road in better nick. Chaps sitting under the shade of a tree in the middle of the road smoking while their wives toiled in the fields, Kids with catapults, Oh, I nearly forget to mention the added bonus of warring factions.
Clearly everyone drivers with a mind set that Allah will deliver them safely. I have been to some places with, less than stellar road safety, but this tops the list by a country mile!
However, once off the highway things deteriorated rapidly, maybe a few K’s of smooth asphalt followed by a rutted cratered surface that went on for who knows how long, the fields next to the road in better nick. Chaps sitting under the shade of a tree in the middle of the road smoking while their wives toiled in the fields, Kids with catapults, Oh, I nearly forget to mention the added bonus of warring factions.
Clearly everyone drivers with a mind set that Allah will deliver them safely. I have been to some places with, less than stellar road safety, but this tops the list by a country mile!
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