Road safety in Indonesia

1. Traffic rules are no way respected or enforced in Indonesia. In fact it's kind of the opposite. Many crazy people are driving on the roads and it's unbelievable how they managed to have a driving license. Well I know how many of them managed to get a license. Then, when people arrive form Jakarta on weekends and public holidays it only gets worse because those people just want to jump in front of you driving really dangerously. The only solution is to drive cautiously, keep cool and let those bad drivers do as they please. I've been driving here for 10 years and so far no issues, touch wood.
2. Yes! Too many to name list.
3. Sometimes, but they usually become terrible before they get repaired.
4. On weekends lots of people from Jakarta arrive in town and they are generally quite aggressive drivers.
5. I have kids and I don't let me kids walk on roads alone, ride bicycles on main roads or cross the street. I worry about crazy car drivers and crazy motorbike riders. Some school kids that look about 10 years old are riding motorcycles and driving incredibly dangerously.
6. Stay cool and drive carefully and learn to give way more than you would usually do. Don't get angry, don't act like you are king of the road because if you hit a motorcyclist the mob might attack you or you could easily hurt them badly. Give way to motorcyclists, they will respect you for it.
7. If you are not confident, then don't drive here. Not worth taking the risk.

@wyngrove60

All Good points Wyngrove.

I have recently returned from Lombok on a few days break. Stayed in Kuta on the south coast for a change and the main road that cuts through the town to the beach is like the children’s cartoon I used to watch as a kid: Wacky Races.

The scooters outnumber the cars and you have a lethal mix of young Indonesian lads racing each other and Bulés trying to act ‘street cred’ who in many cases have never ridden a bike.

Half the riders don’t wear crash helmets and many just ride wearing flip flops or in some cases bear feet.

The exact number of fatalities is difficult to pin down. AI puts them at about 200 a year but of course that does not include life changing injuries.

I hired a scooter from my hotel not long ago on the Philippine island of Siquijor. The roads there are fairly empty and this Brit rode at a sedate pace of 30mph. Heck what’s the rush I’m taking in the sights !

Talking with the hotel manageress later a fellow guest that day had been in a serious accident. About 350 scooter riders are killed each year on that island which is half the size of Lombok.

Needless to say I deferred the scooter hire this time and stuck to Shanks’s pony.

I find that letting motorbikes and scooters go first or giving way to them is better, and they often nod their heads in thanks, it's actually amazing how many do this. I also know that motorbikes have no chance against a car, and I image if it was one of my own children on a motorbike, so nowadays I am very chilled when driving.