LookAtVietnam Bridge - The chronic congestion on the streets of Hanoi won’t be cleared up anytime soon. So what can be done to make life easier for commuters in the meantime?

On Nguyen Cong Tru street, not far from Pho Hue, a Lori Ridgeway, a Canadian tourist, picks herself up after being knocked over by a number of teenagers all driving through red lights at an intersection. “This is the first time I have come to Hanoi. The city’s traffic situation is bloody terrible,” says Lori, shaking his head. No one would argue, though perhaps long-term residents do eventually acclimatise, to some extent.

“I have got used to the city’s traffic disorder since I came here,” says Nguyen Danh Dat, an American Viet Kieu, who was knocked over three years ago by a motorbike. “At first I didn’t dare go out as the city was packed with people and vehicles,” he adds. Widespread ignorance of traffic laws and willful recklessness inevitably leads to accidents on the roads of Vietnam.

According to official statistics, there were around 15,000 road accidents in Vietnam last year, killing 13,200 people and injuring 10,500. That’s an average of 36 deaths and 29 injuries a day. Most deaths and injuries occurred to people aged between 15 and 49, who account for 56 per cent of the total population and who are the most economically active. Despite the fact that the Land-Road Traffic Law came into effect in 2001, most traffic accidents are resolved by using the unwritten rules of the road.

In the event of an accident, car drivers compensate motorcyclists, motorcyclists compensate cyclists and cyclists compensate pedestrians. Roberto, who has been in Vietnam for nearly a fortnight, says that he has witnessed a few “only in Vietnam” situations. “Yesterday, I saw an accident caused by a motorbike cutting in front of a car. But the car had to pay for the damage of the motorbike,” says Roberto.

Just keep it moving With an ever-increasing population, inadequate transport infrastructure and widespread ignorance for the rules of the road, tackling Hanoi’s traffic problems is certainly a tall order. The number of cars and motorbikes on the road is increasing by about 12-15 per cent each year.

This is putting a huge strain on a city that already suffers chronic congestion. During rush hour in Hanoi you can see the traffic spilling over and onto the footpaths forcing pedestrians to duck for cover. Traffic lights turn red while cars and buses lurch on regardless. Amidst the madness a traffic policeman waves his gloved-hand and a baton trying to keep the traffic moving as best he can.

“I hate Hanoi’s traffic as I’m always arriving late,” says Pham Thuy Linh, a student from the Hanoi University of Foreign Trade, who is inching her motorbike along a sidewalk on Quan Thanh street. “I have no choice but to break the law,” she says, pointing towards the packed crossroads up ahead.

“The traffic policeman can’t do anything but stand in the middle of the street.” But a traffic policeman from the Police Department’s Traffic Division No3 says people are fined during rush hour. “We don’t have time to fine everyone who breaks the law,” he says. “Sure, Hanoi’s traffic is problematic. So you should try to go to work early and go home late to avoid the traffic jams.

People should get used to it rather than complain about it.” Splitting the traffic up In mid-February, the city’s authorities in cooperation with Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) decided to implement a pilot project to divide Tran Khat Chan street into five traffic lanes to help traffic flow more easily. “The situation hasn’t improved,” says Nguyen Hoang Yen, a resident living near this street.

“I even see more problems now when there is no traffic police as people still drive down the lanes on the other side of the road.” The two lanes designated for motorcyclists are too small so motorbikes inevitably veer into the lanes set aside for cars and buses. “The biggest problem is that while buses run on the left of the street, they have to cut across other vehicles to pick up passengers on the right side of the road,” admits one traffic policeman from Hanoi’s Traffic Division No4.

“Dividing traffic lanes is a good solution but applying it in Hanoi, where the infrastructure is so poor, is not so easy,” he adds. Previously, JICA and Hanoi also cooperated in dividing the road into lanes on Kim Ma and Cau Giay streets, and while the project has yet to prove effective, the plan is to continue dividing streets such as Giang Vo, Lang Ha, Ba Trieu, Pho Hue, Hang Bai, Lieu Giai, Tran Duy Hung, Giai Phong and Cau Tien. But will this be enough to ease the flow of traffic? “The project can only be successful if the city reduces the number of vehicles being registered and widens the streets,” says Yen.

(Source: Timeout)