Why do some motor drivers don't look, before they go forward, Ahead?

charmavietnam wrote:

Seems you should improve your driving skill here in Viet Nam

Are you nuts?

These people don't look before they jolt out into traffic.  There is nothing we can do to prepare for that.  Sorry, these people are stupid.  The most basic rule is "protect your own life" and if they don't follow the most basic rule then you have chaos. 

The worst ones are the women in the dust masks, covering their eyes on the side so they can't seen vehicles alongside them.   I missed one of them by centimeters and when I yelled

Mua quan tài đi

(buy a coffin) the look she gave me was positively bovine.  Snork snork whut?

Not In TPHCM wrote:

Hey, missmae.  I'll get as worked up as I like.  I completely disagree with your outlook here, assuming you actually mean what you say, and I find your perky, chirpy, cheerful take on such grim matters to be deeply offensive.

If some goddamn moron pulls out from an alley in front of my car and I kill him and his wife and the little child that was wedged in between them while he was texting and smoking a cigarette then I, through no fault of my own, am going to be in legal trouble, probably expelled from the country or maybe even housed in one of its squalid prisons, and even should none of these happen am going to be guilt-ridden and conflicted the rest of my life.  Nobody has any right to lay that on me.  How dare you even suggest that it's my responsibility to anticipate the preposterous.

When people show you who they are, believe it. Vietnamese show they do not care about anything beyond what's on their bike, so I believe it and do not put my kid on one for his own safety.

Not In TPHCM wrote:

Are you nuts?

colinoscapee wrote:

You have to love how its the person on the road who must take care, not the fool who just drives out. Maybe I can take Missmae for a spin up QL 13 to Binh Phouc at about 5pm on a Saturday afternoon and see if she still holds the same beliefs.

I drove in the USA from 1971 through 2010.  I never saw a corpse in the road.  I see three here on one day trip down to Châu Đốc and back.  So it's not like this system here is, like, working or anything.  It absolutely is not working and there is no successful approach that we can "adapt" to.  What nonsense.

colinoscapee wrote:

Some changes are needed, I know Vn's dont generally like change, but the traffic problem is one that can be improved.For the sake of all the poor kids and innocent people dying on the roads, it needs to be done.The point is, the government knows its a mess, but the police still do nothing,why.

colinoscapee wrote:

Some changes are needed, I know Vn's dont generally like change, but the traffic problem is one that can be improved.For the sake of all the poor kids and innocent people dying on the roads, it needs to be done.The point is, the government knows its a mess, but the police still do nothing,why.

Imagine how many lives would be saved by left turn signals.  Having oncoming traffic interleaved with people turning left is insane.

MIA2013 wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

Some changes are needed, I know Vn's dont generally like change, but the traffic problem is one that can be improved.For the sake of all the poor kids and innocent people dying on the roads, it needs to be done.The point is, the government knows its a mess, but the police still do nothing,why.

Mia you took out the Im 50% VN bit.

colinoscapee wrote:

MIA2013 wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

Some changes are needed, I know Vn's dont generally like change, but the traffic problem is one that can be improved.For the sake of all the poor kids and innocent people dying on the roads, it needs to be done.The point is, the government knows its a mess, but the police still do nothing,why.

Mia you took out the Im 50% VN bit.

Haha, I know. I then thought, I live in South Florida and after a while one has to become a defensive driver too, but at least people over  here in Miami slow down when they see the police cars! So maybe I should of said I'm half American. 

Not In TPHCM wrote:

Hey, missmae.  I'll get as worked up as I like.  I completely disagree with your outlook here, assuming you actually mean what you say, and I find your perky, chirpy, cheerful take on such grim matters to be deeply offensive.

If some goddamn moron pulls out from an alley in front of my car and I kill him and his wife and the little child that was wedged in between them while he was texting and smoking a cigarette then I, through no fault of my own, am going to be in legal trouble, probably expelled from the country or maybe even housed in one of its squalid prisons, and even should none of these happen am going to be guilt-ridden and conflicted the rest of my life.  Nobody has any right to lay that on me.  How dare you even suggest that it's my responsibility to anticipate the preposterous.

@TPHCM - i wonder how long you have been driving in HCMC? The post by Ms Mae is exactly right and once you are aware of the 3 dimensional environment you are in, you will understand. All your time driving in America contributes to about 10% of the skill/knowledge to drive here. TRUST ME - currently you don't know how it works here.
There is a flow, a rationale and a whole bunch of unwritten rules to driving here; my first year here I had two or 3 scrapes and minor collisions because I didn't understand what was going on. Here is a statement for you to ponder; the only safe way to enter a roadway from an alley is to NOT look left for traffic. Also left turn lights here would cause chaos.

Not In TPHCM wrote:

Hey, missmae.  I'll get as worked up as I like.  I completely disagree with your outlook here, assuming you actually mean what you say, and I find your perky, chirpy, cheerful take on such grim matters to be deeply offensive.

If some goddamn moron pulls out from an alley in front of my car and I kill him and his wife and the little child that was wedged in between them while he was texting and smoking a cigarette then I, through no fault of my own, am going to be in legal trouble, probably expelled from the country or maybe even housed in one of its squalid prisons, and even should none of these happen am going to be guilt-ridden and conflicted the rest of my life.  Nobody has any right to lay that on me.  How dare you even suggest that it's my responsibility to anticipate the preposterous.

I didn't mean to be offensive but that's how u drive here.
I see all those complaining expats saying THEY LOVE VIETNAM but at the same time all they do is COMPLAINING and QUESTIONING.

Guys, we are in Vietnam. It's a developing country. It's one of the poorest countries. It's Southeast Asia. We are NOT in the US, Canada, Australia, England or another developed country. When will you REALIZE it?

You keep complaining about the locals, the tourists the people and I'm wondering why you don't move home where everything is perfect?

Can't you just embrace the things here and adapt?

I know the traffic here is crazy. Vietnamese don't care about each other. It's true even I don't care ... that's what I learned to survive here.

You can complain and it will change nothing. It's in our minds. It's a I DONT CARE ABOUT YOU mentality that prepares you for the streets of Vietnam;

Like I said before when Vietnamese drive here texting, smoking or even on the phone, they are "binh tinh". They are not distracted about who's coming from the left or right. They think "I drive first" and others have to wait.

Most times it works.

About the sad tragedy in Hoi An. It wasn't her fault and the damn driver didnt stick to the rules. Actually I find it more dangerous out of the city where more trucks and cars ruling the road. Those rural towns like Hoi An are really dangerous for scooters because the locals there don't really learn how to drive. They just drive without knowing the rules.

She was a tourist as well wasn't she? So a totally noob in Vietnam and I highly advise NOT to drive here.

We all know why.

ssuprnova wrote:

Why is water wet? We're talking about a country where people haven't quite figured out how swim lanes work at the pool, never mind the arcane art of yielding to oncoming traffic or making a shoulder check before passing.

I've been driving here for a year, and the only unwritten rule here is "I'm the king of the road".

Red light? Not a problem, I'll just drive onto the busy intersection and cause a traffic jam, but who cares about those schmucks when I'm saving two minutes on my commute by being an asshole.

Stop before joining a large road? Nonsense, I'll just blast out of the small alley with my whole family on the bike, making sure to turn in as wide of an arc as possible. After all, the palm reader said we'd be lucky this year.

There's a gap in the rightmost lane at an intersection? Surely it's not for the peasants trying to make a right turn. I'll drive right up to my reserved starting position.

Drive 200m further and make a u-turn to get to my destination? Nonsense! I'll just drive against traffic, horn blaring. Let the dirty proles get out of my way.

And so on, and so forth, they lumber on, hoping that statistics is not a real science. When the inevitable happens, it's always a tragedy and a result of bad luck, by no means a lack of foresight or a a signal to change one's habits.

Now, the thing is that there are bad drivers everywhere, but they tend to be the exception. It's exactly the opposite here. But what do you expect when there is no enforcement of traffic rules? The traffic police only stop people for minor infractions: easy way to line their pockets, because who'd want to actually bother with writing stuff down, impounding motorbikes, and so on? Sounds like actual work. "Work? Oh, wait, there's a pretty girl driving, I'll stop her and ask her out on a date".

Well said.

And yes the traffic here is a huge problem. The police is no help and don't talk about the government...

We all know those problems but we can't change it yet.

You have to get these "Problems" into the mind of every single Vietnamese if you wanna change it.

They don't see it as a problem, so it's no problem for them.

So what to do?

Wanna go to Hanoi and tell them that their system sucks and that laws and regulations should be enforced?

I wanna see this!

P.S: A date with a traffic officer would be nice:) Then I can call him every time and pay no tea money

I do believe wrote:

Not In TPHCM wrote:

Hey, missmae.  I'll get as worked up as I like.  I completely disagree with your outlook here, assuming you actually mean what you say, and I find your perky, chirpy, cheerful take on such grim matters to be deeply offensive.

If some goddamn moron pulls out from an alley in front of my car and I kill him and his wife and the little child that was wedged in between them while he was texting and smoking a cigarette then I, through no fault of my own, am going to be in legal trouble, probably expelled from the country or maybe even housed in one of its squalid prisons, and even should none of these happen am going to be guilt-ridden and conflicted the rest of my life.  Nobody has any right to lay that on me.  How dare you even suggest that it's my responsibility to anticipate the preposterous.

@TPHCM - i wonder how long you have been driving in HCMC? The post by Ms Mae is exactly right and once you are aware of the 3 dimensional environment you are in, you will understand. All your time driving in America contributes to about 10% of the skill/knowledge to drive here. TRUST ME - currently you don't know how it works here.
There is a flow, a rationale and a whole bunch of unwritten rules to driving here; my first year here I had two or 3 scrapes and minor collisions because I didn't understand what was going on. Here is a statement for you to ponder; the only safe way to enter a roadway from an alley is to NOT look left for traffic. Also left turn lights here would cause chaos.

I do believe saved me the trouble of composing a long post. I do believe is 100% correct about how to drive here, and everyone who comes here with their driving attitudes and road rage from their home countries had better get a grip. That includes you NotInTPHCM-(because-you're-in-Can-Tho). And tell me NITPHCM, just how long HAVE you been driving in Vietnam? I have a pretty good idea of how long you've lived here, but living here and driving here are totally different things.

colinoscapee wrote:

So here is my question, what is the answer to minimise the road deaths in this country.

My answer, if I was the VN minister of transport, would be to continue to segregate the motorbike and car/truck/bus traffic as much as possible, and that is beginning to happen with the construction of highways such as the Long Thanh expressway. Motorbikes need to be kept on completely different routes from the 4+ wheeled traffic. That will begin to reduce the number of accidents involving 4+ wheeled vehicles and motorbikes, which also probably result in the most fatalities.

Right now, when I ride my motorbike, I always feel safer riding on the roads that have either a raised divider, or a K-rail between the motorbike lane and the 4+ wheeled traffic lane. I'm also unlikely to get stopped by a CSGT for riding in the wrong lane that way.