When I went back to my home country for my wedding about 2 months ago, I had to drive a car. As some of you may already know, the traffic rules in Indonesia are a little bit different to western countries. For example, amber light (yellow light) in the intersection means accelerate. Most drivers in my home country will accelerate when they see amber light. Why? They don’t want to get “trapped” in the next red light.
When I drove in Indonesia, I always stop on amber light. My cousin said to me, it is dangerous if I stop when the amber light is on. The reason is because we may get hit by the car behind us. The driver behind us may accelerate his car when he sees amber light.
Actually it was a long story why I have a new habit of stopping on amber light. When I relocated to Canada last year, I had to take 5 times driving tests. After taking driving school for a couple of months and taking several times driving tests, now I drive very carefully.
There are so many reasons why I failed several times on driving tests, mostly because I used to drive in a country with no traffic rules… 
We do have stop signs and yield signs, but they are somehow useless. Nobody looks at it. We do have crosswalk too, but don’t try to cross the street without looking left and right. Most drivers do not yield to pedestrian in the crosswalk.
Well… this is just a warning for you who want to drive in developing countries, like Indonesia. You need to improve your hazard perception there…. IMHO, it is better to use local drivers who have much experience driving in such situation.
Just to give you an overview how driving experience in Indonesia, I have uploaded a video that I captured during my trip back to Indonesia. The video was captured in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Notice how close the motor-cycle to the bus and how pedestrian walk so closely to the bus.
If I’m not mistaken, I read on a Singapore traffic book-guide that when we see the light turns amber when approaching a junction, we should stop the car, unless we’re too close to the junction for the car to stop safely.
The question would be, how to determine whether we’re too close to the junction or not?
gue juga biasanya kalo lampunya masih kuning secepat mungkin gue tancap gas biar gak kena lampu merah..
he..he..he.. bukan pengemudi yang baik
@IndraPr: Yes, Singapore is one of the most well-regulated countries in Asia. So, I believe we have to stop on amber light there.
You’re right, sometimes it is difficult to judge whether we’re so close or not. I have the same problem here too.
@aribowo: Sepertinya di Indonesia emang harus gitu. Kalo lampu kuning lebih baik ditancap. Soalnya semua pengemudi seperti itu. Kalo kita lampu kuning berhenti, bisa2 malah diklaksonin dari belakang. Hehehe…
Well, di mana bumi dipijak di situ langit dijunjung lah istilahnya.
yach apa mau di kata… seperti nya hal hal jelek kayak nya udah mendarah daging di sebagian besar rakyat Indo… susah untuk di rubah
@aribowo: Tapi yah ada beberapa hal positif yang bisa saya ambil dari pengalaman menyetir di Indonesia. Karena lalu lintas di Indonesia memang semrawut, kita jadi terbiasa menggunakan semua “panca indera” kita saat menyetir. Intinya kita benar2 waspada. Ini berbeda dengan orang2 sini yang rata2 sangat percaya bahwa semua orang akan mengikuti “sistem”. Kadang2 mereka malah kurang was2 dengan situasi sekeliling (malah kadang2 cenderung setengah melamun waktu menyetir).
ironis juga, dari hal yang negatif masih ada hal positif yang di dapet.
benar benar negeri yang aneh
Hehe… namanya juga orang Jawa. Selalu aja bilang “masih untung bla bla…”.
Tapi tidak semua kok..bagi yang pernah dan telah ikut sebuah club motor, ada kursus safety riding untuk hal spt itu..contoh, lampu kuning melambat, trus berhenti di belakang garis putih. Selama ini banyak kendaraan khususnya roda 2, berhentinya selalu paling depan sendiri, melebihi garis putih.
@denny: Bagus kalo udah ada khusus safety riding seperti itu. Tapi kalo mobil2 yang laen begitu lampu kuning terus tancap, malah jadi bahaya. Kita melambat, tahu2 ditabrak dari belakang. Kan berabe. Mesti semuanya ikutan melambat kalo mau safe.