~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

[Year 1997]
[Year 1998]
[Year 1999]
[Year 2000]
[Year 2001]

Traffic is real killer on Vietnam's roads

HO CHI MINH CITY - Weaving through chaotic traffic on his Honda motorcycle, Pham Hung Phong blended into the sea of clattering two-wheeled vehicles that clog this city's narrow streets. His large briefcase was balanced precariously between his legs. His 10-year-old daughter was perched behind him. Neither he nor she wore a helmet.

"I'm not worried," Phong said. "I've been riding a motorcycle for 10 years. There's nothing to be concerned about." But safety experts have said Vietnam has some of the world's deadliest traffic. Every day, an average of 25 people are killed and more than 50 others are left with brain damage or other permanent disabilities in motorcycle accidents - a staggering casualty rate for a country with only 8,500 miles of paved roads. Safety experts compare the fatalities to a fully loaded 747 jetliner crashing every two weeks.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the unbelievable impact this is having on Vietnamese society," said Greig Craft, an American living in Hanoi who has set up a not-for-profit foundation aimed at reducing preventable injuries. The carnage has its roots in the Communist government's decision to move toward a free-market economy. The resulting prosperity enabled more than 8 million people to trade in proletarian bicycles for light motorcycles. Fewer than 3 percent opt to wear protective helmets, however, and motorcycle drivers routinely flout traffic laws. Vietnam may be a Communist country, but on the road, it's anarchy. People blithely ignore red lights, stop signs and one-way postings. Anyone wanting to turn simply cuts through oncoming traffic and expects others to yield.

Motorcycles are used the way cars or trucks are anywhere else. Whole families ride on one bike, and it's common to see televisions, computers and stacks of dead pigs strapped on the rear rack. The costs associated with treating motorcycle injuries and other accident victims accounts for more than 75 percent of urban hospital budgets. Motorcycle-related carnage has so swamped city hospitals that doctors have had to reinstate Vietnam War-era triage systems. Safety experts say helmets could reduce the number of injuries and deaths by 75 percent. But it hasn't been easy to convince the Vietnamese. The government enacted a law last summer requiring helmet use on national highways as of Sept. 1, with the regulation to be expanded in the next year to cover city streets.

But nearly everyone has ignored the new law. "It's not stylish," said Tran Thi My Trang, 20, a university student who rides a purple Kawasaki. Young women often wear matching scarves and forearm-length gloves to shield their arms and face from the sun. But protecting their head, they say, would look ugly. The most common complaint, however, is the climate. A typical helmet, which covers a rider's whole head and has a plastic shield to protect the face, is commonly referred to as a "rice cooker." "They're very hot," Trang said. "And it's very difficult to see when you're wearing one of them."

So Craft designed a helmet suitable for a tropical climate, eventually settling on a combination of an equestrian helmet and a bicycle helmet with ventilation holes and a sun visor. He has yet to gain government approval of the design. The government hasn't started enforcing the new helmet law, but Craft said the key will be not penalties but a public-awareness campaign highlighting the dangers of riding motorcycles and portraying helmets as cool.

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran - The Washington Post - November 10, 2000.