Tips for the tourist who wants to rent a vehicle in Bali, especially motorcycles

recently a video posted on youtube which shows a Dutch tourist ticketed and then asked for money by a traffic policeman in bali. actually if only got a ticket then the action certainly correct, but the next action is requested money is an action that can not be tolerated. the fact is, this is not uncommon in Indonesia, this happens almost every day against Indonesian citizens. mercenary cops hanging around on every street corner watching the bikers who violate traffic rules, once they get the offender then the mercenary police will harvest their money.

So, What you should do, especially the foreign tourists, so as not to become a victim of this bullying?

• the first and most important is follow the rules of driving. in the case of Dutch tourist, he got a ticket for not wearing helmet, this also is his fault. so the simple thing is use your helmet!

• if you can, take your guide with you, make sure your guide is an honest and trustworthy. so if one day you got pulled over you can leave it to your guide. where can I get a tourist guide who is honest and can be trusted in bali? a good idea to do some research, you can get info from travel forums, they must have information about the guides that they had used when in bali.

• The last tips is maybe it helps if you join the tour provided by the hotel, indeed you can not freely to and fro, but at least you are safe.

Just the information that not all police in Indonesia or Bali in particular are mercenary, there are also many honest police. you can find out as soon as you are dealing directly with the police (but do not let this happen).