If you travel from PMH to Quan 4 using the Nguyen Van Linh Highway be aware of a CGST honeypot.
Immediately passing the Crescent Mall intersection, there is a 'hump' back bridge. Motorcycles are supposed to keep to the extreme right lane and travel an extra kilometre travelling in a big loop that goes under the bridge.
A work colleague got caught, the CGST demanded VND200,000 for the VND50,000 offence. He appealed the ticket to court, his (cheap) lawyer won the case. No money paid.
REASON? The signs indicating the direction were too high and didn't meet the Traffic Code. All the new signs along the NVL Highway, in the centre, are also illegal.
The fine for driving in a car lane is also VND50,000. If ypu are driving with a licence tell them you want a ticket and won't pay a bribe.
One Foreigner was asked for VND400,000 for going slowly down the road next to Sun Wah, thewrong way - as VNese drivers do.
Do You Travel the Nguyen Van inh Highway in Quan 7?
Good tip...... thanks!
Im living at Phu My Hung so everyday pass by NVL street. I can take you around slowly for free. Taxi & those "Xe Om" cant be trusted anyway. Sry for that.
A friend stuck a camera in te grass to get shots of anything crossing the bridge - not one vehicle used the kerb lane in a weekday and a weekend (total days of shots).
Watch out for the INTO CITY light sequence, too, totally screwed up. It gives one lane a green LEFT-turn, a STRAIGHT and a RIGHT-turn signal. Both turn signals put you crossing adjacent lanes which have STRAIGHT signals at the same time.
At the same time as the RIGHT signal, a pedestrian signal gives a green placing pedestrians right in front of traffic. There is also a stray traffic signal on the right that works independently of the main intersection.
The outbound lights are slightly less in a mess. Left turning motorcycles (into the Crescent Mall area) have to cross 5 car/truck lanes. Only the inertia of cars and trucks starting stops the mcyclists from being hit.
I saw two young girls ride a tandem (two seat/pedals) across this intersection and if it wasn't for a truck whose brakes worked well, they would have been killed.
On the NVL, at the large intersections of Nguyen Long Bang and Nguyen Duc Canh, if you're on a motorbike in the right lane and need to turn left, you're supposed to wait until green, go straight, and cross over to the far lane of the cross street. Then wait for the green that way and go straight on these streets. It's a good idea, actually, and I do it on other similar streets around the city. Not only are left turns on a motorbike illegal at these intersections, they are very dangerous for the reasons stated above.
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