A reminder to be careful driving.

Three other points:

Firstly, if you drive without a licence your are in the wrong;

Secondly, when driving you should carry your driving licence, vehicle registration, vehicle accident insurance, and identification at all times. You may be fined if you do not;

Thirdly, the law in Vietnam states that users of dangerous equipment, including explosives and MOTOR VEHICLES will pay compensation to injured persons, unless the person injured is entirely at fault.  This law was discussed at length in the Vietnamese language press when a woman in Dong Nai province lost control of her motorbike, crossed into oncoming traffic, was hit by two trucks and killed. The court awarded compensation against BOTH truck drivers.

So drive very carefully in Vietnam and try and avoid the other suicidal drivers on the road.

Avoiding suicidal drivers is probebly the hardest thing about living in Vietnam. When turning onto a main road why don't the Vietnamese ever look to see if it's clear. I just don't understand the insanity of this maneuver. It all takes is a little turn of the head to see if anything is coming, but I've yet to see this happen. If you were to do this in the UK you would be dead. Also why is it when turning left instead of pulling over to the left hand lane in time to do this maneuver they wait untill they are on top of junction and then cut up everyone on the ongoing traffic. The reason why they do these thing is because they haven't been given any guidance not to . Drunk Russians on motorbikes are also a problem .

What was he doing riding at 1:25 am on a motorbike? Isn't that when most of the drunks are out on the road? Take a cab home that's what I would have done .

Copy and paste: Why is it when turning left instead of pulling over to the left hand lane in time to do this maneuver they wait untill they are on top of junction and then cut up everyone on the ongoing traffic.    I was pulled over by police and paid a ticket for moving over to the left in time.  Left lane is for cars according police, period and pay your ticket.
Vietnam rule I suppose.

I think they were just extracting money from a foreigner. I was stoped by the police for jumping a set of mystical traffic lights, they DIDENT exsist.      No ticket just pay the beer money and away you go..

ThaoBrewster said - Avoiding suicidal drivers is probebly the hardest thing about living in Vietnam. When turning onto a main road why don't the Vietnamese ever look to see if it's clear. I just don't understand the insanity of this maneuver. It all takes is a little turn of the head to see if anything is coming, but I've yet to see this happen. If you were to do this in the UK you would be dead. Also why is it when turning left instead of pulling over to the left hand lane in time to do this maneuver they wait untill they are on top of junction and then cut up everyone on the ongoing traffic. The reason why they do these thing is because they haven't been given any guidance not to . Drunk Russians on motorbikes are also a problem .

I said in an earlier post that if you are looking to the left to make sure the way is clear before entering a roadway, you don't understand how to drive in Vietnam. It seems contrary but that is because this is not the same as where you come from. Why would it be? I used to curse the insanity of it all until I learned what is actually going on. So many expats refuse to believe they don't know how to drive. Operating the controls is the smallest part of driving a motorcycle here. I tried once to explain it to an acquaintance and he just laughed at me. Let me try again here with this question; why are there so many hotels in Saigon, especially the cheaper variety? (I'm guessing more hotels per person than any other city.)

the most dangerous thing is turing left. its not the oncoming traffic you have to watch out for but the guy in a truck behind you that thinks its ok to overtake you on your left...i.e in the oncoming lane. bang = dead.