Local Updates of Bali

Each year the number of new motor vehicles registered in Bali increases by 10% while paved roadways increased by only 2% during the same period. This imbalance was underlined by Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika in his written comments presented to at a meeting of the Indonesia Motor Club (IMI) on Saturday, December 6, 2008.
In his comments prepared for the group of motor vehicle enthusiasts, Governor Pastika said, “80% of traffic accidents are caused by human failures while 20% can be attributed to infrastructure and other causes.” The former Bali Police Commander who then won the latest governorship election, Mangku Pastika, revealed that the number of motorcycled operating in Bali now number almost 1.5 million or, in other words, almost one motorcycle for every two people.

The governor reminded the IMI of the importance of road safety on Bali’s increasingly congested thoroughfares. The meeting also challenged the members of IMI not to be identified as an “ivory tower” group of big bike enthusiasts, but to take a larger role in improving road safety and vehicular travel across Bali.