Hey, we all know Vietnamese traffic is crazy, right? Well…maybe not to a Vietnamese.
Following Vietnamese logic, there is a reason to ride the white line in the middle because people come unexpectedly out of side roads. Others ride for long distances up the wrong side of the street because they think it is simpler than waiting for a break in the traffic or going further up the street to find the correct place to turn back safely.
Westerners’ jaws drop at the mind-boggling mayhem of Vietnamese traffic. Even for the Vietnamese, not a day passes by in the coffee shops without some mention of the traffic chaos. I’ve witnessed the traffic in Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea…but there’s nothing quite like the ‘I’m not looking at anyone or anything’ style of Vietnamese brinkmanship in some of the most deadly traffic conditions in the world.
The National Government has declared a "year for traffic safety" during which traffic regulations and orders will be strictly reinforced. A noble and sensible idea. So how can it be done effectively? With zillions of vehicles whizzing around we’d probably need the army! Why not harness the greatest power this wonderful country I love has… it’s people.
This is a problem regarding how people think –changing attitudes, rather than introducing more rules and regulations is necessary. So let’s get all the people involved.
Why not introduce lots of school projects, posters, parades, safety fairs and safety festivals?
Every locality has a festival, but this might be a good way to engage the population in something very meaningful to the country as a whole. Why? Every Vietnamese person I’ve met has a story of a family member hurt in a motoring accident. Everyone can relate very well to the need and the importance of it all.
This may be wishful thinking, but I’d love to see children with safety slogans on their T-shirts or outer school walls painted by the students educating other children (and their dads and mums) about road safety.
Maybe we can have ‘stupid driver’ posters – ‘you are stupid if…you don’t look left before turning into the main street’ – ‘Red means STOP AND WAIT!’ .
Everywhere in Vietnam there are the raincoats… could the people encourage the companies to put safety slogans on the back of the raincoats?
Interestingly, everywhere you ride a motorbike, young people on the bikes have crazy English written on the back of their jackets – would it be great to have some funny cartoons in Vietnamese about ‘dumb driving habits’?
For example, “If you ride at night without headlights you’re too cheap to buy a new one!” More cool T-shirts: “Don’t look at me! Look at the road!” and “Why is your mobile phone more important than the road?” or “Get a real helmet – that one’s a joke!”
This should a national contest for artists, designers and people to participate in.
I direct this mostly towards the children because I see far too many riding though the lights without taking care. They are the most valuable asset of Vietnam – let’s get the young to teach the old and their older brothers who like riding as if all of Vietnam was a race track!
I would also like to commend TuoiTreNews and the government on promoting a very difficult but important issue to the people.
Remember: ‘speed kills’, ‘don’t ride with a drunk’, ‘the white line is your protection, don’t cross it’…
Good luck to everybody this year!
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