Cambodian Road Rules

Here, in Sihanoukville, I spend hours cruising around town and beyond on a moto-bike, wearing nothing more than flip-flops, a shirt and shorts... Back home I would never do this. Here it’s all good. Maybe it’s just the head burning the common sense out of my brain...

Anyway, here’s some moto-bike advice:

#1. Always wear a helmet (in the city centre, during daylight hours)
No one really cares if the helmet will protect you in case of an accident. If you drive a moto you need to have something helmet-like on your head. That’s it. Mine is bright pink and at least 2 sizes to small but it keeps the police of my back. Strangely this rule does not apply to passengers... Also note that traffic police doesn’t work after dark. Wearing a helmet at night makes you look like a fool.

#2. Always drive on the right-hand side of the road. Unless you feel more like driving on the left...

#3. Putting your foot on the ground at any time before reaching your destination, stopping for pedestrians or giving way to people driving smaller smaller/slower vehicles than yours is really not done.

#4. Be careful with traffic lights. No one seems to really care about them but it are great spots for traffic police to earn an extra buck.
Just a few days ago I was speeding through the red light (just like everybody else) when I got stopped by the police. No worries. It’s not really expensive at all but it took a lot of time to get moving again. First I got lectured about me being a danger to Cambodian society etc. etc. etc. etc. I tried waving with my walled to speed things up but that didn’t work. So I had to wait until he explained me several times the dangers of ignoring the red light... Finally the $$$-question came:
‘you want to settle this here or at the police station?’
‘Here, here, here... how much do you want?’ (waving a wad of dollars in front of his face)
‘Don’t give me money, put something in my bag over there’ (pointing at a bag on his moto)
So while this kind officer was very busy staring at the traffic passing by, I put a $1-note in his bag.
‘Bribing cops for dummies’
That was that and I was free to go,
chasing the sunset on my Honda Dream...