Vietnam's chaotic traffic: A call for discipline and accountability

January 20, 2025 | 03:28 pm PT
Jesse Peterson Author
I have had two accidents due to drunk drivers in Vietnam.

The first time was around May 2019. I was hit by a drunk driver and as a result, my rear view mirror was shattered.

The drunkard didn't even say sorry! He just continued to drive unsteadily carting his drunkenness somewhere else.

The other time was when I went on a trip from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City on the second day of Tet in 2015. Remembering that moment I still feel anxious.

While driving at a fairly high rate of speed a drunk man drove sideways onto the highway and crashed his motorbike into mine. I flew over the handlebars in a flip. In the air, time slowed down and I remember telling my body to relax. I hit the road and skidded on my back and then strangely stood up with barely a scratch.

The driver tried to drunkenly point the responsibility on me but the crowd wouldn't have it.

I pushed my bike back down the road, got it fixed, and continued my 11-day journey.

When I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City I read in the newspaper that 66 people died in traffic accidents on that second day of Tet.

Traffic police patrol and handle a violator in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Gia Chinh

Traffic police patrol and handle a violator in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Gia Chinh

Roads in Vietnam are very crowded and chaotic. Driving down the highway, for example, you will often see a bus coming towards you. If you do not quickly get out of the lane you will become as a matador charging at a bull, a knight on horseback lance pointed charging a terrible mechanical dragon.

Aside from that utter turmoil, there are lots of other reasons why I feel uncomfortable with traffic in Vietnam.

My grandfather was a pastor in a church that I was heavily encouraged to attend for many years. I would sit in the pew and listen to him say, "Everything must be done in a proper and orderly manner."

He took me to church on an orderly ride. He said that I was able to get to church safely without any unexpected incidents thanks to the well-organized laws and transportation system in Canada.

My grandfather considered me a potential rapscallion so he suggested that I join the army to instill discipline.

I resisted for a long time until I realized that I was indeed too rascally. In the army, soldiers are required to follow many strict rules. I learned discipline, but I also "learned" irregularities like the commander who commands us to be effective and efficient but is inefficient in their method of command.

After my military service I went to live in Japan and witnessed the convenience of the subway sprawled across the entire nation in an orderly and proper manner. I saw the high etiquette of the citizens. I saw groups of cyclists moving silently like a school of fish. At the station they put their bicycles in the right place then boarded the subway and walked to work on safe sidewalks.

I think my grandfather would be very happy to see this. He would probably use Japan as an example to explain to me the need to do everything "in a proper and orderly way".

Upon arriving in Vietnam I observed that traffic here was like the power lines in District 5; inexplicable and complicated, strung everywhere with incomprehensible flow and direction.

At first, I was intimidated to the degree that I chose to walk everywhere. But even when I was walking on the sidewalk I was still startled by the sudden honk of a motorbike horn at my back threatening to run me off the sidewalk and onto the road. A gauntlet of motorized terror.

One of the most confusing things is how traffic violators react when caught by the police. The Vietnamese are very special in that many will argue first and then think about paying the fine later.

This fine itself is also special; sometimes it does not go into the state budget but into the pockets of law enforcement officers.

This amount of money is colloquially called coffee money. But the paradox of accepting the "coffee money solution" is that it encourages, or at least cannot prevent, lawbreaking and actually creates an economy of bad traffic to sustain itself.

A few weeks after the car crash in May 2019, I was driving in Nha Be on HCMC outskirts and was stopped by the police because my motorbike did not have a rearview mirror. I was let go with a warning and told to buy a new mirror.

I ignored the warning and was caught again a few days later. I generally thought of myself as an orderly person, on the side of justice until the second time I was arrested. I was torn by a bad feeling. While I always want better traffic, complain about it, however I myself broke the law, and more than once.

My feeling can be described by the term cognitive dissonance - a psychological state that occurs when a person's beliefs and values conflict with their behavior. This can cause discomfort, motivating them to find ways to restore consistency for themselves. At that time, I was both physically and mentally uncomfortable.

I told them to keep my motorbike.

In the end, my motorbike was taken away, and until now I don't know how to get it back and I don't want to get it back.

I was really disappointed because maybe the seeds of indiscipline had returned. The rapscallion resurfaced and infected me with the careless driving habits of some Vietnamese people around me, or because I relied on the sometimes more lenient attitude of the Vietnamese police towards foreigners. Or perhaps just all of the above.

Recently, I see people around me constantly talking about a new decree which has increased the administrative fines for traffic violations to a very high level. Some people approve of it while others are afraid that the upcoming penalty will bite harder than black Vietnamese coffee.

I understand that it is necessary to do a lot of work that combines many factors to be able to make the traffic system orderly and disciplined. The high fines set by the State are a way to encourage people to comply with the law better. This is an aspect that is expected to create positive changes. But the greater the pressure, the more the weaknesses in the system will be exposed.

The task of both the people and the government is to sincerely acknowledge and work together to patch up those weaknesses. Violators will be afraid of the high fines and gradually practice better habits when going out about. Traffic police also need to resolutely not accept coffee money anymore. When the old loopholes are patched up by both sides, a new order will be established.

An orderly, more beautiful Vietnam will develop so that one day I can leisurely stroll whistling on the sidewalk without fear of being mowed down by rambunctious mechanized mad bulls.

*Jesse Peterson is an author who has published some books in Vietnamese, including "Jesse Cười", "Funny Tragedy: adding color to life".

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