Traffic in Vietnam

I couldn't let my posts go by without commenting on the traffic here in Vietnam.  We've experienced all sorts of traffic and crazy drivers on our travels throughout Africa and SE Asia but Vietnam is in a class of  its own.  There are no tuk tuks here... just an overabundance of motorcycles, steering wheel powered tricycles (you pull and push back and forth on the steering column to move the rear wheels sitting in a bench seat - you often see amputees driving these), big buses and trucks and a few taxis.  Hardly any private cars and most of those we suspect were actually limo's.

There are VERY few red lights, zero stop signs and only a handful of roundabouts.  You'd think that they'd have collisions all over the place and fatality rates that would be off the clock, yet we only saw one accident the whole time we've been in Vietnam (that one between a bus and a motorcycle... I don't think the motorcycle won).  It took us a while to figure out the rules of the road, and they are surprisingly effective.

Essentially big wins... bravery comes a close second and the timid might as well park.  If you cross an intersection, you boldly head out at a relatively slow pace not really looking anyone in the eye...  if you see a bigger vehicle (pretty much anybody when you are on foot), you let them go in front or close behind you and you keep going at a predictable pace.  The traffic will magically part on either side of you.  If you panic and run, you are sure to get run over as you aren't predictable any more.  You may want to consider pausing for big trucks and buses as they don't slow down for anybody - but often will warn you of their presence with their horns.

Our taxi driver from Danang to Hoi An had a nice new Toyota 4x4 SUV.  It had a standard Toyota "beep, beep" horn... but he could flick a switch under the dash and turn "beep, beep" into "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!!!!!".  It was comical to see how many drivers would ignore the "beep, beep" but move like they'd been shot out of a particle accelerator at the speed of light given a short blast of the big gun.

The amazing part of the traffic system here is how well it works.  Given the number of vehicles, Toronto or any other North American cities would become totally gridlocked... but here the traffic just flows along everyone moving in the current.  No big tempers, no waiting at stop lights.  It just works.

I've seen similar system in India with even more traffic and it works just as well there (although I'd never consider driving there as none of the streets line up and the maps are completely indecipherable.)  I'd love to say, we should import their laws back to Canada but it would never work as you'd have to take down all the stop signs and that would be an open license for some fool to go barreling through the intersection at high speed - something the Vietnamese just don't do.

Those roundabouts are brilliant as well... we went through a 9 lane one today and it was amazing how much traffic was going through it smoothly.  If they do have a collision, it's with two vehicles moving at almost the same direction and velocity so the differential impact velocity is next to zero netting little damage or risk to life.  Not like our intersections where if you get T-boned, you will likely not walk away from it.

The other oddity is just how much crap they can pile on a motorcycle.  I thought I'd seen it all in India with two guys, two 8' rolls of carpet and a step ladder (fully erected over top of both of them on the handle bar and rear seat), but today, I saw one better.  We're driving down the road and here comes this guy with a queen size bed (not the just the mattress but the whole damn bed - headboard and all!) strapped across his seat. He's sitting on the mattress doing about 60kms down the road with not a care in the world.  Our driver didn't even look twice at him.  I guess there'd have to be an orgy on the bed to attract any attention here.  We've seen motorcycles carrying 7-8 100lb pigs in individual cages, ones with a couple of hundred chickens but those are as common as taxis.

I can't count the number of times we got propositioned by motorcycle drivers wanting to carry us to our hotel when we're walking along the street with our full backpacks and the day packs.  I can just imagine they'd put two of plus our packs on a bike!

One of the few red lights we've seen... they actually seem to obey these.

Downtown Danang... count the cars.