Discourse on Driving in Vietnam

Driving in Vietnam can be an interesting, and disastrous event. Of course the disastrous part was just discovered by me on Friday the 26th of January. I may go into the details of that occasion, but first I will describe the driving aspect in general. In particular, I will discuss the accepted and non-accepted actions. One would think that a country where the sides of the road are the same as Canada, and where stop lights exist, it might be relatively easy to adapt. Ha.

Accepted:
It is okay to drive around town with a dead pig, stacks of egg crates, chickens in cages, dogs in cages, or upwards of 6 people on one motorbike. I have seen six at least once, which consisted of two parents and four children, only one being under the age of 2. I have also seen 5 full grown people on one motorbike in Saigon. Fascinating. It is also okay to have two people on a motorbike, with the back person holding a pane of glass that is quite large (or any other large object for that matter, think armoire).

It is okay for taxi drivers and other drivers of large vehicles (i.e. cars and trucks) to keep the horn lit up for eternity. Horns are a regular occurrence, and is actually a friendly gesture (i.e. get out of my way or I will hit you). All cars drive quite fast, though taxis are definitely the most reckless. Motorbikes also use their horn continuously.

It is okay to temporarily drive on the wrong side of the road. Of course you should be quite close to the curb of the wrong side if you are going to do this. And ‘temporary’ is a term whose length is determined by the driver. This is okay only for motorbikes and bicycles.

It is okay to turn left from the far side of your own lane. This is okay whether you are at a stop light, or at any other intersection. Of course this means cutting off about 50 motorbikes and bicycles…. No problem. It is also okay to wait until the light turns green to turn right, not to mention turning right from the far left of the lane.

It is okay for workers to push the trash bins down the road during rush hour. The trash bin is similar to the big blue trash bins in Canada, of course these are smaller and on wheels. They take up about a quarter of the road space. It is also acceptable to move your food stall, whether peddled or pushed, anywhere you like on the roadway.

It is okay to drive without your headlight on. This includes times when you are driving down the wrong side of the road. Blinkers are also unnecessary. Mainly because it is also widely accepted to leave your blinker on for the entire time you are driving.

You are allowed to drive as fast as you want. Two reasons: Speed limits do not exist. I have not seen one sign, nor have I ever heard of anyone being ‘pulled over’ for driving too fast. This is furthered by the fact that there is an alarmingly low presence of traffic police. In fact, I believe these traffic police would look the other way if they ever saw anything that was potentially dangerous. (*Note: In most Asian countries, foreigners get hassled frequently. This is due to the eternal search for money. However, Vietnam lacks this enforcement, which is quite nice because paying bribes to get out of tickets sucks)

You are allowed to drive through traffic lights as if they do not exist. Just try to look both ways.

Driving on the sidewalk is not a problem, especially during high traffic times or in high traffic areas.

In other words, it is accepted to ‘do what you have to do’.

Other noteworthy items on driving in Vietnam: Driver’s licenses are basically non-existent. Police do want them, but most Vietnamese drivers do not even get them. Insurance is also useless. Buying motorcycles requires no documentation. The ownership is simply handed to the next owner.

Not accepted:

Hitting other drivers.


Now, the accident.
The circumstances:
Brandon – Driving home after dinner. Approximately 10:45 pm, Friday January 26th. Driving without a headlight due to a drain of the battery (i.e. the light drains the battery terribly, causing the bike to malfunction horribly.) After a standard check of the oncoming traffic, it was noticed that two headlights were a safe distance away, and so Brandon proceeded into the oncoming lane.

Other driver – Cruising with his friend around the sea shore at Mach 10. (Headlight use is uncertain, though it has been accepted that the headlight was turned on.)

Objective: Brandon needed to turn left off Ha Long onto Hai Dang.

Result: It appears that one of the headlights was traveling at a miraculous speed, and at this speed was unable to avoid making contact with Brandon’s motorcycle. Brandon’s bike was spun in a circle as he was ejected from the seat, the motorbike landing 5 feet from the point of impact. The two Vietnamese riders were also ejected, with their motorbike landing a massive 20 feet away from the point of impact. Both bikes received damage, although which one was worse is undetermined.
Injuries to both parties were minimal (despite an impact speed of 70 km/h). Brandon received deep bruising of leg and right arm, with several scratches from his landing on the pavement. The driver of the oncoming bike had a 4 inch cut on his right elbow, while his passenger acquired leg and arm injuries, being the worst injured of the three.

The circumstances afterwards were quite ridiculous. First the Vietnamese driver wanted Brandon to pay 1 million dong for repairs. However Brandon was not willing to concede since he was also wronged. Bickering went on for a while, until the foreigners had had enough of the Veitnamese disregard (they constantly heckle white people for money in any accident situation). A friend of the ex-pats (named Bao, a vietnamese lady with strong ties to the expat community) came down to the scene to deal with the police logistics. Both drivers didn’t have a license. The bikes were loaded and taken to the impound.
Status: Both drivers await any news. It is supposed to be 10 – 15 days until contact is made. No one knows what to expect, except that a bribe will have to be paid to get the motorbikes back.
Brandon will most likely not pay a bribe, and just leave his piece of crap motorbike (despite recent improvements) in the impound, and search for a new bike while transporting himself via bicycle for the time being.