With it’s extraordinary road mortality rate, it’s fair to wonder what Vietnam’s traffic police are doing.
The largest proportion of road fatalities are motorcyclists. In Vietnam, motorcycles aren’t just a form of transport. They are an important part of the haulage system. It is not unusual to see a television or a washing machines, bleating livestock, and passengers on the back of a motorcycle. So, the traffic police concentrate on motorcyclists. It is in the implementation that the problem becomes evident. The police usually stop motorcyclists to inspect papers, rather than for infractions of the road regulations.
While casual observation suggests an almost equal distribution of the sexes amongst motorcyclists, it is often women who are the target of inspections. Because women frequently have to transport their children, so tend to be conservative drivers. The men, particularly the young ones, are are those who are reckless.
Also. the location of the inspections is questionable. They appear to be chosen for a suitability to ambush, rather than with any consideration to the danger that they may pose. Motorcyclists are banned from using the motorways, except when they are the only means of crossing rivers. The on ramp onto a motorway is potentially hazardous under any circumstances, and especially so if it is selected as an ambush point.
And so it proved when a motorcyclist swerved into me as a traffic officer ran into the road to make a stop. No one fell off, and in Vietnam minor collisions don’t even warrant stopping to check for damage. Except that the point of contact on the bicycle was the derailleur, the most expensive component on an already expensive bike.
The traffic police denied all culpability. If anything, they appeared to be amused. In their opinion, it was the motorcyclist’s fault. Their failings, in the location of the ambush, causing the motorcyclist to swerve, and failing to prevent him from leaving the site of an accident, were not a problem in their opinion.
There is an issue with training, and until that is resolved, Vietnam’s motorcyclists will continue to die.