From the first moment we set foot in Bangkok, 2½ months ago, we’ve noticed that the rules of the road in South East Asia are understood differently from back home. What is reckless or illegal in Ireland/Estonia, is often the norm here. This includes....- Multiple people on motorbikes. A family of 4 or 5 on a single bike is not unusual...normally with a baby in there aswell. Kadi even saw 6 once.
- Overtaking on blind mountainous corners. The more dangerous the better it seems!
- People sitting on the back or roof of vehicles. People are ferried around like cargo here. Whatever doesn’t fit in the back can often be seen sitting on the roof.
- Driving on the opposite side of the road (against the traffic) is acceptable, provided you don’t hit anyone. One day we saw a motorbike driving against a big flow of traffic – in fact the sole motorbike had the right of way!
- Driving in the dark with no lights on (we see this all the time)!
- Driving motorbikes with no helmets.
- Carrying the most unusual objects on the back/front of the motorbike. The list is endless but we’ve seen furniture (a big couch, a bed headboard, chairs), all sorts of animals (alive and dead), a person on a drip, ladders, big boxes of various stuff, big blocks of ice, children’s high chairs (with children sitting on them), etc.
- No mirrors. We’ve seen plenty of bikes where the only rear-view mirror has been twisted around so the driver can check their appearance while sitting in traffic (or maybe while driving too!)
- Children (age 10 or younger) driving motorbikes.
- Plenty of babies being carried on bikes (of course no helmets, because there are no baby motorbike helmets). Many are asleep in fact!
- The biggest vehicle has right of way. Pedestrians give way to motorbikes, motorbikes give way to tuktuks, tuktuks give way to cars, cars give way to busses, etc. It is not unusual to see a car/bus cut across a line of motorbikes, not necessarily waiting for a clear patch, but just driving out in front of them knowing that they will stop because they are smaller.
- The horn is used as a conversational instrument. Surprisingly, the motorists will not blow the horn in anger when someone drives against them or cuts out in front of them, but they will sound it whenever they are approaching or overtaking someone. It is like saying “hello, hello, I’m coming you better make room and watch out”.
But this all took on a whole new dimension when we reached Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in particular have millions of people living in them and this means there is a constant flow of motorbikes on the road, moving around the city in some chaotic yet structured manner. They seem to flow like a big swarm of fish. Zebra crossings and pedestrian lights are ignored so crossing roads becomes the most extreme game of chicken we ever played. We’ve learned that the trick is to walk across with determination, and don’t step backwards. Check out the video below for a demonstration of Conor crossing the road in Hanoi.
The other law that they break here is one that the Fashion Police should be enforcing! The Vietnamese (and South East Asians in general) consider pale skin to be more pleasing to the eye than tanned skin. As such, they shade from the sun at every opportunity. So when they are driving their motorbikes, they are often seen wearing hats, sunglasses, face masks, hoodies, gloves, socks and shoes, and specially made jackets with flaps to cover the hands....all this despite the extreme heat here. You can’t see any of their exposed skin – we call them little Michael Jacksons!
Accidents do happen though and in fact, during one taxi ride, our driver managed to knock a middle-aged woman off her bicycle. Thankfully she was ok, but the driver didn’t seem to care as she apparently pulled out in front of him, and she was just a bicycle and he was a car afterall.
They are without a doubt the worst drivers in the world! In fact, there are apparently 12,300 road fatalities in Vietnam a year (population of 85 million). That’s 33 deaths a day!!
Despite all the craziness, this (surprisingly) is the first country where we see some people wearing helmets!
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