It's crazy. But so is most of Asia. At first when I started driving in these lesser developed countries I worried because I didn't know the laws. But now I realize that no laws apply! Now that's not true for all of Asia as I already posted here:
But for the lesser developed countries anything pretty much goes. You need to watch those who pass on the right of you, as well as those who do not give the right of way. It's the law of the jungle and often the larger vehicles win!
On a trip to the Philippines I rented a small 125 cc bike in the city of Dumaguette. It is not a large city, but large enough to get traffic congestion in the rush hours. But even during non-rush-hour times, there's still a steady flow of traffic.
I had a small Honda click motorbike, which is a normal sized bike for the Philippines. Most can't afford big bikes, nor can they afford the petrol, so small bikes will do for transportation. Besides, there really is no point in having a big bike because you can't go that fast with the traffic anyway.
Above, you can see me on my Honda on a more deserted street. I tried to take the more rural roads as much as I could to avoid the traffic. Because it is just mayhem in the traffic jams.
The main issue for me anyway, is the lack of stop signs at four-way intersections. All you trite to do is to make it to the other side of the street without hitting anybody. Just like a figure 8 race, you're trying to avoid the collision at the intersection. But thankfully most people go at a crawl through here so it's not as difficult as it may sound. It's just difficult for me because there are no rules in the situation. There are no right of ways. And there are a lot of these type of intersections with no stop signs .
I would estimate about 80% of the traffic in the city is motorbike. You can see the massive amount of motorbikes on the side of the road in this video.
I couldn't imagine driving a car in this traffic. Bikes provide much more maneuverability to go through. Also, it's not unusual to see the motorbikes go on the sidewalk and use that as a road as well.
I only hit rush hour traffic once during my stay with my bike. I was smart enough to avoid after that. I can blend in well enough with the other bikes and move through it slowly, but the issue is trying to use my iPhone map to find my hotel. I can't drive a bike with one hand and hold my phone to look. As a result, I continually have to pull off to the side of the street if I can find a place to get my bearings.
Add it to all, many are one-way streets. If you miss your stop, which I often did, you have to go down a side street and go all the way around the block to get there. Also, Google maps doesn't always tell you which side of the road you should be looking for your stop. If you're not aligned with the traffic pattern to be on the correct side of the road, you'll miss it.
The only time I hit rush-hour it took me four times circling through traffic before I actually got to my hotel. Yeah I know I'm not the best at doing this, that's why I made sure I avoided rush-hour from then on.
But, I wouldn't miss the experience! It can be nerve-wracking at times, but I can't think of a better way to see the beautiful countryside of this particular island.
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