10 tips for riding a motorcycle in Dili, Timor Leste

1. Dili has road rules, they just aren’t written down anywhere. Well, they do have a national highway code, but these are completely irrelevant.. Take the time to get to know the traffic and learn when you have right of way and when you do not.

2. Beeping is a vital, albeit complex communication method. My interpretation: 1 beep: “Oi” or for those non-Australians “Hello, just letting you know I am here”. It can also mean “Hey look a Malae!” (foreigner) 2 beeps: “Watch it!” Or “Hey look a Malae!” Continuous beep: “If you don’t change directions one of us are going to die” or “Hey check out this awesome horn I have that stays on for an extended period of time, look it’s now playing a little song, isn’t it great?”

3. Always assume everyone’s brake lights are out. That way you’ll get a pleasant surprise rather than having to clean your underwear.

4. You are only entitled to the space you’re currently taking up. It isn’t “your lane” and you cannot move left or right as you please. In Australia they teach you to move across your lane to give ‘a buffer’ between you and potential traffic moving into or across your lane. You don’t have this option here. Your lane will be taken up by other scooters, cars, oncoming traffic, dogs, goats, children, chickens and many, many potholes.

5. Feel free to indicate as much or as little as you like, no one cares. People will often overtake you on the right, while you’re indicating right and slowing down to turn.. If you have a passenger get them to put their hand out (like you’re on a bicycle) to stop people from doing this.

6. Don’t think that the police, ambulances or government cars won’t run you over. If the sirens are on, get the hell out of the way.

7. Never drive to the left of a mikrolet (the local public transport). They frequently stop to let people in or out.
8. If you want to go straight after stopping at a set of lights, keep to the far right of the lane (right side of the cars), not the middle. If you’re on the other side of the road that’s perfectly acceptable.

9. There are rules that you must obey. I’m not sure why but if you break them people on the street will stop and yell at you.. These include: – Not going past the invisible white line when stopped at traffic lights. Not stopping is OK, but if you do stop it has to be behind the lights. – Going the wrong way down a one way street. Driving on the footpath is OK, but not the wrong way on the road. This is incredibly frustrating as Dili is a maze of one way streets.

10. Whoever drives on the white line in the middle of the road wins! Extra points if you cause oncoming traffic to serve. All car drivers believe this, but the taxis are definitely winning.

June 2015