The Hindu Left

Driving in Bali is an adventure. One of our favorite examples of this is what our good friend and neighbour Andy Slavin has coined, ‘the hindu left’ (not the same as the Christian Right). This unique driving phenomenon happens routinely at intersections, where the normal instinct to look right over one’s shoulder before merging into traffic is neglected. Destiny is destiny. It mostly happens at T intersections when scooters (and sometimes cars) turn left without looking to the right to see if there is traffic traveling straight. If you look closely at those driving scooters you will see that some expats/tourists have picked up on this mad custom. It should be noted that to obtain a driver’s license in Bali one needs only $20.00, ID, and time to fill in a quick form at the bureau. No test needed. It should also be noted that last year there were 541 traffic fatalities in Bali. That is about 8 times more deaths than what the city of Toronto averages (70 or so) for a population roughly the same! Here's the video: