Tips For Safe Cycling Cambodia - Eco Adventure Tours Cambodia

Social Cycles have just completed our inaugural group cycling adventure from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap in Cambodia. A hugely successful, exciting and even life changing ride, the 500km’s of road cycled is another world away from the bike lanes of Australia. And as a result, you have to treat them as such. Let’s just say that following road signs in Phnom Penh can cause accidents.

So, if you are thinking about joining one of our tours in 2016 or even going it alone, here’s a few tips to keep you safe that you don’t want to forget!

1. Always cycle in a group

Life is always safer in a group. Animals in the wild know it and cyclists should know it to. You’re more likely to be seen when you’re in a group. If you find yourself cycling alone, latch onto locals who are also on bicycles. You’ll never be alone in Phnom Penh as about one in three road users are on a bicycle. The traffic doesn’t stop in these cities and sometimes cycling can feel like you’re a fish in a school in an ocean, where everybody and everything moves as one. When you stop freaking out and relax, you can easily get addicted to this style of cycling.

2. Size matters

Basically, the rule of giving way comes down to the size of the vehicle in front of you. If it’s bigger than you, you may want to get out of the way because that’s what the driver is expecting. It’s worth noting that other people around you will follow this rule so watch out for sudden movements and direction changes.

3. You can’t trust the road signs

A stop sign doesn’t always mean stop. Cycling through a green light can be dangerous as can stopping at a red light. Confused? You should be. You can use the road signs as a guide only, but it is the road users around you that you really have to pay attention to. Make eye contact with drivers, predict where people are going to go, look both ways when you cross a green light and make sure nobody is behind you when you stop at a red light.

4. What to do with oncoming traffic down a one way street?

This happens a lot in Phnom Penh. And it can be easy to panic when it first happens to you. You find yourself cycling down a dual carriageway. It can even be as big as three or four lanes wide and all traffic is going the same way. When you look up, some guy on a motorbike carrying a chicken coup with 28 chickens in it is headed straight for you. One of you have to turn, the question is, who turns and which way? The answer is always the same and it’s an unwritten rule all over. The person going the wrong way will take the side of the gutter, and you, going the right way, will merge towards the middle of the road.

5. Ride with confidence

If you look like you are crossing the road, or merging lanes, then do it with confidence. People will move and go around you. If you look like you are crossing the road, then half way across you stutter, stop, start and stop again, you will confuse all oncoming and passing traffic. It takes a little bit of getting used too and goes against all your natural instincts, but it truly is the safest way to combat the busy streets. If you’re still unsure, wait for a local to cross the road and go at the same time as them. (or join our tour!)