We love riding motorbikes around to explore our destinations. They are convenient and really let you experience travel within a country in a way that you lose in the back seat of a taxi or car. They’re also quite dangerous. We knew this but it really hit home after crashing a motorbike in Sri Lanka, which we also consider the most dangerous place to ride a motorbike – of the places we’ve done it. Still, it could happen anywhere.
Riding and Crashing A Motorbike In Sri Lanka
Motorbiking in Sri Lanka offered a vastly different experience from Vietnam and Indonesia. During our stay, we rode the bike twice, and I rode with our host for two quick errands on other occasions. Our longest ride was to Yala National Park and our second ride to Galle Fort was on the shorter side. Driving in Sri Lanka is not for the faint-hearted and carries a significant amount of risk so you should carefully consider whether you actually want to do so or not. Overall, we do not recommend it.
The Traffic Is Worse Than Vietnam
Although not as crowded as Vietnam’s streets, the road traffic actually feels a lot more dangerous once you’re out in it. You’re sharing the road with numerous tuk-tuks, trucks, cars, other bikes, and worst of all buses – there are also frequently animals on the road. The buses are a nightmare; we have witnessed them nearly hit pedestrians, animals, and other vehicles numerous times. They drive very fast and do not acknowledge lanes even as suggestions. Buses will drive around other cars, and on the wrong side of the road even in very heavy traffic – often pushing other drivers off the road.
I was forced onto the shoulder several times from a bus coming from the other side of the road. The other vehicles, follow similar suit – especially tuk-tuks – but it is easier to deal with them because they are much smaller. Traffic lights are nearly non-existent in the country except in the largest interchanges in the big cities, so at best be prepared for a traffic officer, otherwise, it’s a free for all.
The road conditions though are actually quite good, much to my surprise. The roads are very well paved, smooth, and lacking potholes. There is the occasional bridge construction to watch for on the southern route between Galle and Tissa, but nothing that should throw you. Rain is an occasional hazard to watch for of course in the tropical country, and the wind can be pretty strong at times as well. Sand and dirt might blow over a little along the beach areas, but only on the shoulder. Also, especially in the south, gas stations are few and far between, so if you are starting to run low on fuel, just fill up.
A Long Ride To Elephants
For our first outing, we decided to ride out to Yala National Park from Weligama. It was four hours out, and about three hours back. As we had come to expect from previous rides, our butts were sore, but this was definitely the worst of the experiences. Sitting in that rigid posture for hours can get painful after a while – who knew? It would have probably been more comfortable if we’d each had our own bike so that we could adjust seating positions better, but even then it would only have helped slightly. It wasn’t an option for us though as we were sticking to a budget (also part of the reason we chose motorbikes in the first place).
The ride to the park wasn’t too bad for the most part. It was hot, and we hit some traffic at the occasional spots and towns, but once we got further out east, the traffic lightened and we were able to enjoy the sights and fresh air. Sri Lanka truly does have some beautiful coastlines, and our rides through little rural jungle were pleasant. On occasion, we would take a break to stretch our legs and grab a bite to eat from the lunch our host had graciously packed for us that day.
Anyways, on our way back, we ran into a pretty serious mishap. As our safari ended at sunset, our drive back was entirely in the dark. Most of it went smoothly, better traffic than the drive to the park and we didn’t have the sun beating down on us. But the darkness presented several problems. The helmet I was wearing had a face mask to protect from the wind, but I couldn’t use it because the visor made it to where I couldn’t see – so I wound up with very dry eyes. And there were absolutely no street lights for the majority of the drive, making it pretty much pitch black aside from my headlight. Navigation was difficult too because we couldn’t see anything but the what was roughly thirty feet ahead of us. If we hadn’t been following essentially a single road hugging the coast, we would have surely gotten lost – per usual.
We Hit a Pack of Pigs
With about forty-five minutes left to go before reaching Weligama just outside of Tangalle, we were getting tired, but looking forward to arriving back at our Airbnb. As we rounded a curve along the narrow streets, a family of pigs – or boar – darted out into the road and we got into a wreck. It was very dark, so by the time they were illuminated in my headlights, it was too late. They formed a line across the entire road and there was nowhere to swerve to dodge them. With only a split second to make a decision, I knew to keep the wheel straight, and to take the impact head on – rather than take an angled blow.
I hit the pig at about 35 km/h. I did my best to keep the bike upright, but we went down – we wound up crashing a motorbike in Sri Lanka. Somehow, Briana managed to part-way hop off the bike at the moment of impact and not get injured – aside from a lightly sprained/bruised ankle. I managed to remain still seated as I controlled the fall and went down hard on my knee, getting a nice bit of road rash in the process. In the fall, the wheel turned and caused the handlebar to hit me square in the chest, knocking out my breath and making a small cut where the bike handle hit me.
Luckily though, that seemed to have been all. Briana immediately came to help get the bike up that was now partially laying on me, and a few men that saw what happened rushed over and asked if I needed to go to a hospital. I limped for the first minute and thought things were worse, but as I regained my breath and the shock disappeared, I realized it wasn’t too bad. I quickly checked over myself and saw that I was essentially uninjured, just a scraped knee and few tiny bruises. We checked the bike to ensure that it was still in working condition and off we went. The bike was essentially undamaged, though we did have to pay for a paint job where the bike got scraped on the road.
We were really lucky here – it could have been far, far worse. Biking accidents are dangerous of course, and you really can’t prepare for animals, they appear when you least expect it. If we had hit an elephant – a real possibility – we’d probably be dead.
The roads around Sri Lanka are in surprisingly good condition, so even the road rash was not very bad. We didn’t have travelers insurance though, so this could have been very bad if it had been anything more serious. Just be sure to be as safe as possible, and remember things can still happen even to the most prepared.
I have no idea what happened to the pigs. They disappeared just as quickly as they came. Briana says she didn’t even really see them. I’d imagine that the one I hit was seriously injured, but it was also certainly big enough to roll with a few punches. But seriously, where did those pigs come from?!
Continuing Home
So after our crash, we still had to get home – which meant that we had to continue to drive the now slightly beat up bike nearly an hour to Weligama. We made a point to drive even slower than we had been, just in case any more animals decided they wanted to say hello.
As we were passing through Tangalle, Briana’s sunglasses flew off of the top of her head. We doubled back to look along the road, but couldn’t find them even after several passes. This dampened our spirits even further – though luckily Briana would find a pair in Galle a few days later (they were necessary to have in Sri Lanka). Finally, we made it back to our place and parked the bike. We were pretty beat up, incredibly dirty, and exhausted – but we were fine.
Fixing the Bike
The next day, I went with our host to get the bike fixed. The damage wasn’t too bad, just a scratched panel that had gotten slightly knocked out of place. All that needed to be done was to replace the panel, which came out to something like 2000 LKR – roughly $12 USD. We rode to a friend of his to get the work done. Along the way we chatted, and he said that accidents like this happen all the time. He said that one guy had taken the bike up to Kandy and got into a very bad wreck on the way back – but was ok in the end. So it really made it hit home just how lucky we were.
Drive to Galle
We were nervous about getting back on the bike again, but it was a relatively cheap and convenient way to get around and we had been really wanting to go to Galle, so a few days later we took the bike there which was only about an hour’s ride. Much more manageable and comfortable. Here we ran into no problems thankfully. Traffic was pretty heavy as we approached the city, but we didn’t really have to drive through town to get to the fort from the direction that we were coming.
On our way back, we finally caught sight of the elusive stilt fisherman that Sri Lanka is famous for. They are actually a relatively recent part of Sri Lankan culture, as the technique only came into practice around WWII. Regardless, we were very happy to find our fisherman before we left the country. They were just in this random area on the coast off the side of the road.
Maybe Again, Maybe Not
At this time, we haven’t been back on a motorbike since Sri Lanka. Mostly this is because it has not been the most convenient option for us in places we’ve been since but we also intend to be hesitant about it in the future. Riding is a really fun experience, and we found it to be such a great way to experience various countrysides – but it certainly comes with a lot of risks. Would we ride again – yes, but probably not in Sri Lanka.
There is just too much chaos on the roads and far too many variables. At least in Vietnam, we mostly were just dealing with other bikes. But as soon as you get cars, buses, tuk-tuks, and animals – it is just a game of Russian Roullete. So, unless we have no other options, the next time we visit Sri Lanka, we’ll probably just grab a tuk-tuk, or hire a car. If possible, we will also probably avoid taking the train in Sri Lanka – for reasons.
Crashing a Motorbike in Sri Lanka – Pin It!