Bad habits when participating in traffic during the rainy season

Ho Chi Minh City is entering the first months of the rainy season. Heavy rains leading to flooding during rush hour have made traffic jams and engine failures worse at hotspots such as Nguyen Huu Canh and Le Van Luong streets...

When going through flooded areas, many car and motorbike drivers are not conscious, speeding and splashing dirty water on surrounding traffic participants.

Driving the wrong way, encroaching on lane

The rain makes people, especially motorbike drivers, impatient to speed up. Many people drive against traffic and encroach into car lanes to avoid flooded areas.

This poses many dangers, because the rain limits the driver's visibility, especially for drivers of oversized vehicles, leading to inability to handle the situation in time, which can cause unfortunate accidents.

Chaos, crowding into car lanes. Photo: Reporter group.

According to the provisions of Point G, Clause 4, Article 6 of Decree 46/2016/ND-CP effective from August 1, 2016, when a motorbike is not driving in the correct lane, the fine is from 300,000 VND to 400,000 VND. In addition, if driving in the wrong lane and causing an accident, the driver's license will be revoked for 2-4 months.

Car splashing water on pedestrians

Cars and trucks have large wheels, so even going at moderate speeds is enough to splash water onto vehicles traveling in the same and opposite directions.

However, there are some drivers who step on the gas and speed through flooded areas, accidentally or intentionally, causing water to splash onto motorcyclists and pedestrians around.

The consequences are not only wet clothes, but can also cause serious consequences such as obstructing the motorcyclist's vision, causing them to stagger and leading to an accident.

Regulations on handling vehicles that intentionally splash water on motorcyclists and pedestrians already exist in developed countries such as the UK (fine of 6,500 USD), Canada (175 USD), Japan (60 USD). However, in Vietnam there are no sanctions to handle this case.

Pull over to the side of the road wearing a raincoat without looking

When it just started to rain, motorcyclists often pulled over to put on their raincoats. Instead of observing carefully and pulling over slowly, many people immediately pulled over, causing the vehicle behind them to not have time to react, leading to unfortunate traffic collisions. Sometimes, there are cases where people stop regardless of whether it is on the bridge or under the bridge, causing traffic congestion.

The motorcyclist put his foot on the center console to avoid splashing water. Photo: Reporter group.

When it rains, some motorcyclists, especially manual motorbike drivers, often put their feet up high on the middle rack of the motorbike to avoid being splashed by other vehicles. Flooding water leads to the road surface being covered, partly because the road surface in Vietnam is degraded, with many potholes, so putting your feet up high is very dangerous, making it difficult for the driver to handle unexpected situations.