Blocking the road to make a rice drying yard: A story that is 'so hard... told over and over'!

These days, Nghe An farmers are harvesting summer-autumn rice. What is of concern is that in some localities, people have occupied the roadside to dry rice, straw, and erect obstacles... posing a potential risk of causing accidents. Photo: Huy Thu

During the rice drying process, in order to limit the traffic (cars, motorbikes...) on the rice, people have used many items, scraps... to build on the road, around the road section occupied for drying rice. In the photo: A resident of Xuan Lam commune (Nam Dan) prepares a "drying yard" on National Highway 46C. Photo: Huy Thu

Even though they only have a few bags of rice to dry on the highway, people still put up long bamboo trees across the road to act as a barrier. Photo: Huy Thu

People in Long Xa commune (Hung Nguyen) also use wooden bars placed high on pieces of wood to create obstacles in the middle of National Highway 46C while drying rice. Photo: Huy Thu

In some places, people even bring wood, tiles, and bricks to surround the area of ​​the national highway that is being occupied to dry rice. In the photo: National Highway 46C section through Xuan Lam commune (Nam Dan). Photo: Huy Thu

Placing horizontal obstacles is probably too low, so people also erect vertical "markers" as warning signs on the road. Photo: Huy Thu

Wooden chairs and iron rice rakes are also used by people as obstacles when drying rice. Using iron rakes in the middle of the road is too dangerous for vehicles and traffic participants. Photo: Huy Thu

Many communes in Hung Nguyen district even set up rice bins right on Highway 46C to store rice overnight during the days when the rice is dried on the road, before being transported home. Photo: Huy Thu

Around the roundabout at the beginning of the new Yen Xuan bridge (in Hung Nguyen district), people also dry rice and set up many obstacles on the road. Photo: Huy Thu

Not only on national highways, provincial roads... but also on small, narrow village roads, people also use bamboo, planks, wood,... to build many obstacles to block the road when drying rice. The occupation of the roadside as a drying yard, especially the erection of obstacles on the road, has many potential risks of causing traffic accidents. It is recommended that local authorities in the province propagate and remind people to avoid causing unfortunate consequences. In the photo: A village road in Long Xa commune (Hung Nguyen). Photo: Huy Thu