If you think rush-hour traffic in many cities are bad, you're lucky you're not in Saigon.
Traffic jams in Saigon, mostly bikes very few cars.
This is how you cross the street in Saigon, you ignore motorbikers and they ignore you.
Lower left corner had some bikers attempted to go against traffic.
A bike can carry ton of stubs and people too. Who needs an SUV in Saigon ?
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The next time you're sitting in gridlock traffic on the Kennedy Expressway, just turn up the radio, take a deep breath and be thankful you're not in Ho Chi Minh City(Formerly Saigon).
According to a global traffic study released earlier this year by the navigation company, TomTom, Chicago motorists spent 114 hours sitting in traffic jams last year. That's the equivalent of nearly five days — a long time to spend in a car going nowhere.
Now, imagine that kind of gridlock when everyone's driving a motorbike — 7 million of them.
A red light, for instance, does not necessarily mean stop. It's merely a suggestion. It doesn't even mean you have to slow down, as long as the driver in front of you is still moving. What it does seem to mean is that you get to stay with the flow of traffic, even though it's not actually flowing.
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No matter how well you think you can maneuver rush-hour traffic on Lake Shore Drive, you'd be like a kid on a tricycle on the streets of Saigon.
Of course, there are rules of the road. But in Vietnam, they clearly are meant to be broken. There are plenty of lawbreakers behind the wheel in Chicago, too, but in Saigon it's harder to find anyone who actually follows the law.
A turn signal? What's that?
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A single lane doesn't mean what it implies. Vietnamese drivers seem to think it's a waste of space to allow only one motorbike in a narrow lane at a time. There should always be at least two, and if there is room for two, there's probably room for four. If space isn't obvious, don't stop to rethink it. Just toot your horn and squeeze your way in.
By the way, everyone ignores one-way street signs. There's no right side or wrong side of the road, so a motorbike could be gaining on you from either direction, even on the shoulders.
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On the highway, passing, whether you have a clear path or not, is not only recommended, it's required. That is, if you expect to get anywhere in a somewhat reasonable amount of time. It's perfectly acceptable to dart in and out of traffic and come within inches of colliding with a taxi, a bus or a truck. Just remember to honk your horn when doing so.
There are no limits, apparently, to the amount of stuff you can carry on a motorbike. Furniture, large water bottles and animals — live or slaughtered — were common. But the prize goes to the man who pulled up at a street market with about 30 crates of eggs piled onto the back of his bike. He hadn't broken a single one.
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The helmet situation, by the way, is a little odd. Adults and children over the age of 6 must wear a helmet. They used to require that everyone, even infants, wear a helmet. But parents complained that the helmets were too heavy on the children's necks. They figured it was better — and safer — to just squeeze the kid in between the adults.
And parking? For the most part, it's nonexistent. You just pull your bike over and leave it among maybe 50 others in front of a store. But make sure the shop has a security person to watch over it. Otherwise, someone will snatch it almost as soon as your feet touch the ground.
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Walking? Forget about it. That's for tourists who forgot to reserve a cyclo. And, of course, for people like me who thought that vacationing in Vietnam would be perfect for racking up 10,000 steps a day on my Fitbit.
The first time I tried to cross an intersection, I froze in terror. The tour guide had to come back to get me, warning that stopping, even for a moment, would mean sudden death. Raising a hand, motioning for drivers to slow down is useless. Everybody is either talking on the phone or texting.
The trick, the tour guide explained, is to keep your head straight and keep walking, even as the motorbikes plow toward you. And by some miracle, it works. Just when the motorbike is close enough for you to reach out and touch it, it stops. Most of the time.
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Just in case you still can't get up enough nerve to walk across, there are friendly "street-crossing police" standing by at some of the intersections most frequented by tourists to offer a hand.
Oddly enough, there were fewer people killed in traffic in the entire country of Vietnam last year than the nearly 1,000 who died in the city of Chicago alone.
About 700 people were killed in traffic in Vietnam and another 3,000 were injured, and most of those occurred at night.
Maybe that's because it's almost impossible to drive a motorbike over 20 mph in that kind of gridlock. Then again, maybe the Vietnamese are much better drivers than they appear to be.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/colum...506-column.html
Traffic jams in Saigon, mostly bikes very few cars.
This is how you cross the street in Saigon, you ignore motorbikers and they ignore you.
Lower left corner had some bikers attempted to go against traffic.
A bike can carry ton of stubs and people too. Who needs an SUV in Saigon ?
Quote:
The next time you're sitting in gridlock traffic on the Kennedy Expressway, just turn up the radio, take a deep breath and be thankful you're not in Ho Chi Minh City(Formerly Saigon).
According to a global traffic study released earlier this year by the navigation company, TomTom, Chicago motorists spent 114 hours sitting in traffic jams last year. That's the equivalent of nearly five days — a long time to spend in a car going nowhere.
Now, imagine that kind of gridlock when everyone's driving a motorbike — 7 million of them.
A red light, for instance, does not necessarily mean stop. It's merely a suggestion. It doesn't even mean you have to slow down, as long as the driver in front of you is still moving. What it does seem to mean is that you get to stay with the flow of traffic, even though it's not actually flowing.
Quote:
No matter how well you think you can maneuver rush-hour traffic on Lake Shore Drive, you'd be like a kid on a tricycle on the streets of Saigon.
Of course, there are rules of the road. But in Vietnam, they clearly are meant to be broken. There are plenty of lawbreakers behind the wheel in Chicago, too, but in Saigon it's harder to find anyone who actually follows the law.
A turn signal? What's that?
Quote:
A single lane doesn't mean what it implies. Vietnamese drivers seem to think it's a waste of space to allow only one motorbike in a narrow lane at a time. There should always be at least two, and if there is room for two, there's probably room for four. If space isn't obvious, don't stop to rethink it. Just toot your horn and squeeze your way in.
By the way, everyone ignores one-way street signs. There's no right side or wrong side of the road, so a motorbike could be gaining on you from either direction, even on the shoulders.
Quote:
On the highway, passing, whether you have a clear path or not, is not only recommended, it's required. That is, if you expect to get anywhere in a somewhat reasonable amount of time. It's perfectly acceptable to dart in and out of traffic and come within inches of colliding with a taxi, a bus or a truck. Just remember to honk your horn when doing so.
There are no limits, apparently, to the amount of stuff you can carry on a motorbike. Furniture, large water bottles and animals — live or slaughtered — were common. But the prize goes to the man who pulled up at a street market with about 30 crates of eggs piled onto the back of his bike. He hadn't broken a single one.
Quote:
The helmet situation, by the way, is a little odd. Adults and children over the age of 6 must wear a helmet. They used to require that everyone, even infants, wear a helmet. But parents complained that the helmets were too heavy on the children's necks. They figured it was better — and safer — to just squeeze the kid in between the adults.
And parking? For the most part, it's nonexistent. You just pull your bike over and leave it among maybe 50 others in front of a store. But make sure the shop has a security person to watch over it. Otherwise, someone will snatch it almost as soon as your feet touch the ground.
Quote:
Walking? Forget about it. That's for tourists who forgot to reserve a cyclo. And, of course, for people like me who thought that vacationing in Vietnam would be perfect for racking up 10,000 steps a day on my Fitbit.
The first time I tried to cross an intersection, I froze in terror. The tour guide had to come back to get me, warning that stopping, even for a moment, would mean sudden death. Raising a hand, motioning for drivers to slow down is useless. Everybody is either talking on the phone or texting.
The trick, the tour guide explained, is to keep your head straight and keep walking, even as the motorbikes plow toward you. And by some miracle, it works. Just when the motorbike is close enough for you to reach out and touch it, it stops. Most of the time.
Quote:
Just in case you still can't get up enough nerve to walk across, there are friendly "street-crossing police" standing by at some of the intersections most frequented by tourists to offer a hand.
Oddly enough, there were fewer people killed in traffic in the entire country of Vietnam last year than the nearly 1,000 who died in the city of Chicago alone.
About 700 people were killed in traffic in Vietnam and another 3,000 were injured, and most of those occurred at night.
Maybe that's because it's almost impossible to drive a motorbike over 20 mph in that kind of gridlock. Then again, maybe the Vietnamese are much better drivers than they appear to be.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/colum...506-column.html
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