The majority of traffic violation laws involving foreign tourists in Bali were committed by Russian tourists, as reported by the local authorities on Thursday, 18th of May 2023. Stefanus Satake Bayu, Bali Police spokesman Chief Comr stated that most traffic law violations committed by foreigners involved rented motorbikes and unskilled drivers because they never rode a motorbike before.
Stefanus explained that the traffic police have dealt with 171 foreign tourists’ traffic violations during the previous two months, including 56 incidents involving Russian tourists. Australian tourists came in a distant second with 10 cases of traffic violations, followed by German tourists with eight traffic violations.
According to Stefanus, most traffic offences were “not wearing a helmet while riding, tampering with license plates, ignoring traffic signs, and having more than two persons on a motorbike.”
Stefanus continued, “The Bali Police urge local motorbike rental businesses to require international driver’s licenses from foreign passengers before allowing them to ride to ensure that most will know how to ride the motorbike safely.”
The officer stated, “The police deal with the traffic infractions that those foreigners caused, but if we find they are overstaying their visa, we’ll recommend the immigration office take further action, like deportation.”
After so much unruly behaviour by foreign tourists, the Bali government has created a special task force to tackle this problem since breaking the traffic law is not only the problem that foreigners, especially Russians in Bali, have created. There are several unbelievable behaviours that these Russians have done, for example, posing naked on Bali’s sacred tree, dancing inappropriately at one of the holiest temples on the island, Besakih temple, and working as illegal sex workers in Bali. Also, not to mention the day-to-day causes of foreigners’ deportation in Bali, such as overstaying and working to generate income without a legal permit.
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