Traffic in HCMC is ridiculous: it’s noisy, congested and totally awesome to watch. If you utube Vietnam Traffic, from the outside it would most certainly seem chaotic; people driving on the sidewalk, almost no regard for traffic lights, people swerving around people at whatever speed they desire. It’s so crazy that most people would be surprised to learn there are actually traffic laws that are actually enforced.
Waiting for the next law breaker outside of Coffee Bean, yes Coffee Bean!
For years Western visitors to Saigon, and the rest of the country for the matter, have enjoyed an even further escape from the lightly enforced laws of the road; the few police on the street have been reluctant to pull foreigners over. But the times, they are a-changing. There are now more police on the road than ever and more who speak English. So if you decide to join the madness and ride, like Paul and I have decided to do, here are some tips if you are unlucky enough to be stopped by the iron hand of the law.
First, know what you can be pulled over for. The fewer rules you break, the less likely you will be harassed. Some things are obvious: not wearing a helmet will get you stopped, speeding is against the rules and riding with more than two people will get an officer’s attention.
Some traffic laws are lesser known: the left lane is reserved for cars, so if you enter it with a bike you can be stopped; excessive honking is actually against the rules; and having your headlights on during the day is a stoppable offense. Also, remember the fact that if you don’t have a Vietnamese drivers' license then you are also breaking the law; your international permit is effectively worthless in the country. Sometimes police officers will just pull you over for being a Westerner, banking on the 99% chance that you won’t have the proper documentation.
They might have a hard time picking you out of this mess.
If you do get stopped -- usually by an officer who will walk into the middle of the street and point at you -- remember to play it cool, follow directions and try to stay positive.
Most of the time this is how it goes down. The police here are notorious for using Western tourists to line their own pockets; generally after they stop you and inform you of your infraction they may simply write an amount on a piece of paper and demand that you pay it in cash on the spot. In my experience this number has been 500,000 VND, which compared to a fine in the Western world is pretty low.
This number is negotiable. I learned this the first time I got pulled over, when the officer wrote 500,000 VND on the ticket but I only had 200,000 VND in my wallet. I showed him the situation, he took the bill, and I drove away. The second time I was stopped, he wrote 500,000 VND, I simply gave him 200,000 VND, and he let me go. My tip is to not drive with 500,000 VND bills in my easily accessible wallet. Keep your big bills somewhere else, like in your backpack or your motorbike seat, and drive with smaller stuff. An officer will usually always accept 200,000 VND. If they insist on more you can either give it to them or have your bike confiscated for a month, which will be quite the hassle.
If you get pulled over, pay the fine and move on with life; it’s not a crazy amount of money -- and besides, it's quite likely that you probably were breaking the law.
Turning left, where you have to cross the oncoming lane of traffic, is something that some people struggle grasping in their minds. It can seem inconceivable, as there are few turn signals in the city, mostly because it requires you merge from the right side motorbike lane to past the left side car/bus lane and then venture into oncoming traffic. Although it can seem scary, and a little dangerous, once you get over the mental hurdle, you’ll find that turning left is easy and kind of fun.
They will go around you!
The first thing to remember is that turning left is similar to crossing the street. To cross the street in Saigon, you simply step into the road and most drivers will stop or swerve around you; this is similar to turning left, when if you advance at a slow and steady pace, the oncoming traffic will break around you also. Just remember that HCMC streets are less guided by actual traffic laws and more by the laws of nature; if something is bigger than you it may not want to stop. By this I mean that while most motorbikes and taxis will tend to avoid you, you should be careful before you cross paths with a city bus.
New friends!
It can still be nerve racking, even for the seasoned driving vets, to jump into oncoming traffic, so there are ways to make things a little safer. A common tactic is to use a traffic blocker. This can be done in a couple of ways. Firstly, you can join a pack of motorbikes turning left together. By doing this all the motorbikes work together to make themselves a bigger object when crossing. Another way to turn is to partner with a turning car. Since more things will stop for a car than for a bike, you can simply wheel yourself up next to the driver’s side of the car and use it as a shield to deflect the traffic.
SUV's make the best shields.
Again, at first this can seem crazy and it can take some time to get used to. I have a friend who initially refused to make left turns and instead would make three rights. The best thing to do is to keep your speed down and take things nice and slow;once you get the hang of it you may find driving in Saigon to be a little addicting...apparently people in San Gabriel Valley still drive like this.
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