Driving in Mongolia

I intended to never drive on the roads of Ulaanbaatar but as usual in Mongolia things never turn out the way you expected. 

So my experience from this year:

UB Driving Tips:
- They still drive crazy but it definitely has changed for the better
- Don't drive on the right yellow line separated lane - exept for turning - it's reserved for buses (fined by video-proof/8000₮ for Mongolians)
- Use seatbelts for everyone in the car - accidents do happen there too
- Traffic-Lights are past a crossing not as in Europe
- Parking prohibition signs do not show the time (1200-1800) parking is not allowed - it's the telephon-number for the police/towing-service
- don't get upset, do like they do and sometimes it helps to open the window and communicate with the driver next to you. Don't argue it's not worth and doesn't help anything.

Countryside Driving Tips:
- Like in the rest of the world it's simple physics that apply to mongolian "roads" too.
- Take at least one spare tire with you
- 4x4 it nice to have, most limitations I'd say appear due to river crossings and to deep water or mud in river valleys
-  Navigation is difficult. Availabel Road Atlas do not really help, they are for rough orientation but do not really help in the countryside. Better ask the people nearby a ger (Mongolian language skills required).
- Dust is a concern, since it will enter your vehicle everywhere - and your lung - choose somewhat rainy weather
- There are normally several alternative trails to the one trail you don't want to miss
- Last hint: Dangerous are the main streets leading to big cities. If you overtake use your horn to show "here I am I will overtake you", this is important for the next coming road-hole...

Does anyone know how long a foreign driving licence is valid in Mongolia - we had some discussions about that.
By the way: first post ;-)

On the one hand they're the smartest people on the world, best piano players come from Mongolia because of their incredible capability to memorize everything. So they also do pass the written exam for a driver's license.

On the other hand local car drivers are stupid, ignorant and don't really care for red lights, traffic signs or rules when police is out of sight. They exactly know what this is for... but now it's democracy, everyone is allowed to drive. So what are the fuc*ing traffic rules for? "not for me".

During the night they do races on empty street, drifting in front of the department store and it sounds like a race track. I llived in the center for 9 months and heard it nearly every night. And nearly every week someone gets killed or severely hurt because drivers don't care about traffic rules or others.

They stop at places where not to stop, then complain others for accidents happening from this  - like bus is crashing in left door of a car at a bus stop. Have seen this with my own eyes... then people start having arguments or even start to fight. Even with policemen they have arguments... like driving at a prohibition day. They have a 10 day cycle for license numbers not allowed to drive, that should theoretically reduce traffic jam. And my favorite is the towing service... there are quite a lot places where not to park your car, and of course the "king of the road" is ignoring them. Then the car gets towed away... always a spectacle, especially when the police comes and tears the driver away from his car being brought awawy.

For god's sake they made a new law - when a pedestrian crosses the road where he isn't supposed to cross it he gets fined with 25% of minimum salary. About 25$. So less pedestrians get hurt one could think... the truth is that noone cares for law, and as in old times a camel is bigger than a horse the camel rider gets priority... nowadays it's thie hierarchy bus - monster SUV - small SUV - regular car.

And for this reason the major car rentals don't rent a car without a driver... if yu wanna drive by yourself you need to own a vehicle, which is literally impossible being on a tourist visa, and holders of other visa need sort of sponsorship from the invitor... and who cares... I wouldn't consider to drive in Ulaanbaatar because of it's chronic traffic jam - people feel quite comfortable with the AC on, music playing so they don't care if they could do 2 klicks in 20 minutes by walking if they can also drive for one or two hours. And the traffic jam comes from nearly constant repairs on the main road, the Peace Avenue. Or just "töw zam". Last major overhaul was in 2009, now they do it again. I wounder myself when they start to rent helicopter rides...

I managed to ride a bicycle for some days in Ulaanbaatar without getting killed or hurt, but the truth is I rode like motorbike because I have that sort of license and have the proper instincts to watch my back and all sides... and I did 700 km on the countryside with the bicycle along the roads. At daytimes this is quite easygoing, during night time I wouldn't dare this :-)

I drove for about a year in UB. It was really intense at first but I came to find it enjoyable and exciting. One thing I realized is that I became a much more skilled (not BETTER but more skilled) driver - much more alert, responsive to my environment, able to squeeze through tiny gaps between cars or other barriers, merge into quickly-moving lanes of traffic, etc. But I also became much more aggressive and inconsiderate - which is a necessity. One good thing is everyone is alert, so if you do some crazy thing you know everyone will be expecting it and able to respond.

Main challenges:
1) everyone cuts everyone else off all the time, usually without signal
2) the traffic jams which last ages and require extremely aggressive driving to muscle your way through
3) potholes, which are not that bad on a few streets in the city center, but awful elsewhere
4) outside the city center, you can't really say there are potholes in the road - mostly they are not paved or flat
5) pedestrians just walk into the middle of traffic - you need to be hyper-alert all the time to not hit them
6) there are (some) traffic rules, but they literally change depending on the intersection. E.g., unless you've driven for a while, you'll have no idea if you need a green arrow to turn at any given light.
7) police don't care if you "break the rules", but they'll pull you over if you're driving on the wrong day, or just randomly. I was driving without a license and paid a $50 bribe after police threatened to take my car.
8) when two cars crash, they can't move until police come and photograph the scene. This leads to huge jams almost daily
9) Traffic police will randomly intervene and take over from lights, which invariably makes traffic worse.
10) Bus drivers are maniacs and drive as fast as possible, weaving in and out of lanes. Bus-on-bus collisions are not uncommon sights.

Really annoying is when some asshole decides to get to the head of a line on a two-lane street or alley, and jams up the other direction. Or when a huge SUV parks somewhere they are not supposed to and block the road. Also double-parking is just a fact of life - everyone has to have their phone number in the windshield so you can call when they park you in.