Chasing cars, October 26 2009

Again a lot nonsensical news on Cambodia's roads and traffic in general:

• Probably the most extensive coverage is reserved for who is allowed to fly within the country. The government seems intent on allowing their own airline (um, actually the airline of Vietnam Airlines) to be the sole operator by throwing up all kind regulations to which it's competitors fail to comply, only for the same to apply for it's own airline! The tourist is left stranded, but who cares? the headlines:

  'Tourism head calls for government to support airlines' (21 Oct.), 'Regulator to write for SRA permit' (22 Oct.) and
  'International aviation to review' (23 Oct).

• More airline info:

  'New routes to be added'.

  All new routes are from Siem Reap to Korea.
  Then the Airport in Sihanoukville is scheduled to open according to KI Media. In the report the State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) Secretary of State Mao Havannal had the following to add on the subject above:

  'According to Mao Havannal, Siem Reap Airways may be unable to fly from the airport as it has not registered any planes in Cambodia, a requirement for domestic operators to receive an Air Operator Certificate (AOC). “I don’t know for sure if Siem Reap Airways will be able to fly or not” said Mao Havannal. “It depends on the airline because we have already confirmed with them that if they want to resume their operations, they need to register an airplane [in Cambodia]. “It already completely complies with SSCA requirements and has satisfied concerns over its operations.”'

  Weird that the Cambodia Angkor Airways can fly while it also has failed to comply with this regulation.
  

• Good news for the bus masochists, Laos is planning buses to ply from Pakse to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.

  'According to officials, the Pakxe Public Bus Association has been given permission by the Lao government to provide a bus service to Cambodia . The association planned to provide buses from Vientiane to the southern Lao province of Champassak , and on to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh in Cambodia , they said.'

  That means you will soon be able to take the bus to Jinghong, China with just two changes of bus, in Pakse and in Vientiane. Time 3 days and nites?
  

What's wrong here? Cambo authorities are lacking funds to have simpel signboards.
So they get them sponsored. But then the signboards turn into advertising bill boards.
Then if you click on the photo for detail you see how poorly the directions are given.
No design standard is used and even the opposing traffic lanes are to be used.
Going straight can on the lanes left and right
while the center lane (of a 2 lane road) is to be used to turn right.

• In Cambodia though buses are to be regulated:

  'would require that companies hire two drivers per bus, and that the drivers switch off every 150 kilometres to avoid fatigue-related accidents'.

  The bus company replies:

  'Chan Sophanna, general manager of Phnom Penh Sorya Transportation, said he welcomed the effort to improve road safety but said the cost of two drivers would be too high. He went on to defend bus drivers who had been involved in road accidents, blaming them on “careless pedestrians” who walked into traffic without looking. The drivers, he added, needed to flee the scene in many cases to avoid retribution at the hands of onlookers'.

  Blame the victims.
  

• The Phnom Penh Post has some pointers on how to establish and manage a Cambodian bus company:

  'Don’t lose sight of the small things. You can hire people to sweet-talk tourists into foregoing the money exchange booth at the border in order to rip them off at the bus station. Any day when you can convince a naïve Chinese teenager that he should change $50-worth of Thai baht into riel for an abysmal rate is a small victory.
  ...
  Once customers have purchased their exorbitantly priced tickets and gotten on your decrepit bus, it’s time to let the good times roll. What, in theory, would be a three-hour ride should be lengthened, with a minimum of four stops at shabby restaurants so your fares can purchase plates of oily fried rice for two dollars a pop'.

• In Lao they have a new solution to easing higher traffic accident rates:

  'Luang Prabang province will be the second province in Laos to launch a project to prohibit secondary school students from riding motorbikes to school.
  ...
  The project aims to help reduce road accidents and traffic, saving family expenditure and protecting the environment'.

The Cambo solution: shelve the moto and the bike.
Post Ketsana use the boat to get to school.
Original from Reuters.

• An ongoing issue, are victims allowed to punch up police?

  'Kampot rovincial police have arrested four Chinese construction workers on suspicion of assaulting two Cambodian traffic police following a traffic dispute on Sunday'.

  However.

  'When contacted on Wednesday, one company representative denied that the arrests had taken place, claiming the workers had merely been summoned for questioning. “They did not arrest people. They just asked them to court for some information,” said Shu Jiang, the deputy managing director of Sinohydro'.

  The answer is if you have good backers, sure go ahead.

• 'Road deaths rise moderately'.

  That's according to the Ministery of Interior. Though they acknowledge that there may be some differences with other statistics, most notably the RTAVIS. This databank uses the Ministries figures and the Ministry is a partner. It begs the question why there may be a difference ....?

• More indepth knowledge on how the police works, thanx to EAS. And revealing that the police are using their speedguns:

  'noticed the police had a new 'speed gun' and were pointing it at everyone. Well, the police 100 m onwards, they were aggressively flagging down every old vehicle (never Lexus or Land Crusers) and ours was one.
  ...
  the police only emboldened the police to press charges against him--trumped up. They say they clocked him going 57 in a 55 km/hr speed. Then when they checked his license, they showed it was paper and not plastic (who knows what was right?). [a.: obviously the police do] ... I noticed at least 25 cars flagged down to the similar marked 'lane' where everyone simply handed out some notes and went on'.

Chasing Cars, mid-August 2009

Imposing the law? According to their own claims

'more than 60,000 vehicles have been temporarily impounded'.

That seems a bit unlikely, even logistically. Lost in translation possibly?

'Hem Ya, deputy chief of the Phnom Penh Police Commissariat, said that vehicles have been held in order to educate owners who break the law. "I think that so far, 80 percent of Cambodian people respect the traffic law" '.

Well, wake up call. If that is respect then come again. Nowhere in Cambodia are 80% of the people respecting the law! On a good day you might see 50-60% wearing helmets nowadays, but that's common sense, it's not respect for the law. Respect for the law is having a license, stopping at stop signs, not cutting off other road users, not running red lights, not driving on the wrong side of the road, not cutting corners, not driving and using phone, etc., etc.

Well, let's hope there's better things to report on this week.

• Ban the poor souls!

  'I’m sure that it’ll be a great consolation to both tourists and tuk tuk drivers that their ban from Norodom Boulevard in the latest lunatic edict from the madcap and increasingly nagging world of City Hall, will ‘prevent traffic jams.’ As it happens, traffic jams caused by groups of people being efficiently and economically ferried around by tuk tuks happen, in my own humble experience, to be somewhere in the region of nil. Whereas, expats across the blogsphere (myself included), have been banging on for years about the exponential increase in the number of fatass, luxury SUVS blocking up the city’s streets - and something tells me that these black steel panthers may have more of a causal relationship with these traffic jams than the humble tuk tuk. The problem is as clear as a bell to me'.

• If some readers (and authorities, see above) believe that Phnom Penh is congested, wait til you see Vientiane:

  'A massive increase in new vehicles is giving Vientiane commuters a headache as peak hour traffic snarls affect transportation across the city'.

  The Vientiane Times has us believe the Lao capitol is in the same league as Saigon, Djakarta and Bangkok! What distinguishes Vientiane from Phnom Penh is the solution sought:

  'Minister of Public Works and Transport, Mr Sommath Pholsena said his ministry would focus on promoting and improving public transport as a way to address traffic congestion in the capital'.

• Koh Kong is Cambodia's wild west?

  'The driver swerved and the back end started to slide out. Shards of rock and rubble started bouncing loudly off the under-carriage, people started screaming, but by some small miracle, the driver managed to recover from the swerve and we didnt end up in the dirt ditch at the side of the road, taking a dirt nap. About 150 meters down the road (in the middle of nowhere), I see a gang of young Khmer men waiting on their motorbikes, scrutinising the bus (for damage I’m guessing?) and looking back at the debris from the smashed boulder, a few with very disappointed looks on their faces and a few others laughing their fucking heads off at our near death experience. By the time we got to the border I couldnt help feeling a bit more cynical and wondering how long it would of taken for the bus to get looted if we had of rolled? What's the value of the contents of a tourist bus these days? a couple of hundred dollars per head, 30+ people, $4-5K? A fair days take for a gang of trainee motodups, id say? I wish I could say this is my only bad experience on Cambodian Buses'.

  You mean there are worse?
  

• Odd law enforcement in Sihanoukville. The street determines what the license fee shall be.

  'According to a representative of the drivers, the temporary solution provided by provincial office was that motorcycles not bearing any license plate will not be confiscated'.

  The same in Banteay Meanchey? And what are we talking about?

  'a deputy provincial governor, warned that officials would not be able to reduce the fee, which could be as high as $200. "If we were to reduce it, it would have too large an impact on the national budget," he said'.

  The national budget in ruins? Is there a national budget?
  

• A non-report?

  'Prices at petrol stations climbed about 3 percent Wednesday, despite calls last week from Prime Minister Hun Sen for lower fuel costs, and petroleum officials said additional price spikes should be expected as world oil prices rise'.

  The PM can obliterate the opposition within 2 hours (he claims) but imposing the law on all is difficult as well as getting petrol companies to abstain from making a profit! Met his match?
  

• The National Road Safety Committee claims that traffic injuries are dropping in Phnom Penh. The Phnom Penh Post copies these claims.

  'Traffic injuries in Phnom Penh decreased by 55 percent from May 2008 to May 2009'.

  55% is a low! But he! Crossing Cambodia swept through the May 2008 and May 2009 reports. Causalities in May 2008 in Phnom Penh: 139 (source (PDF)). May 2009: 219 (source). An increase of 57%! That's just plain poor reporting.

  'Though crashes and total casualties in Cambodia decreased compared with May 2008 by 13 percent each, fatalities saw a 12 percent increase'.

  The reason for this drop in casualties?

  'Ung Chun Hour, director of the NSRC, said that enforcement of the Land Traffic Law - which requires motorbike drivers to wear helmets, among other regulations - is the most likely source of this decline in road injuries'.

  Get real, the probable cause is poor reporting. Dying on the road is increasing despite more helmets, that's the message.
  

• Headline from KI Media which must have come as a rude wake up call for the Cambodian government: New Railroads cost Money! An odd comment from an Australian business person:

  'it certainly will increase traffic on the rails because road transport as we know is very expensive and considerably dangerous, considering the safety aspects on the roads here," Mayes said'.

  The Phnom Penh Post (18 August 2009) might have a solution, by way of the magical words

  'additional funding'.

  ADB Daydreaming:

  ' "It makes Cambodia the hub of transportation between China and Singapore, and you would have a port link, you would have a link to Thailand, you'll have a link through to Vietnam, and the implications for that, for Cambodia in the region, are that Cambodia becomes the hub".'

  A port and a rail road mean nothing.

Law enforcement at night, a novelty? 'Drink and drive enforcement'

• Seldom are we treated to the details of a traffic accident. Apparently if the victim is a relative of someone important then that changes things.

  'Yont Thauron, the son of Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Yont Tharo, was shot after his car was involved in a minor traffic accident while returning from a wedding'.

  Though not necessarily packed with details, the Khmer 440 Forum for once provides us with more:

  'From the unsubstantiated rumour department...we took a tuk-tuk last night near the monument and the word according to him was that some rich guy's kid had a minor scrape with a moto around the Monument. The moto was at fault, apologized and swore he'd pay for the damage (how, who knows?). But the kid told him he'd pay at the hospital in blood after he was done kicking the crap out of him. Whereupon the moto guy pulled a gun and shot him'.

  Just a rumuor. It does appear there are different versions of the same story. Phnom Penh Post:

  'Witnesses at the crime scene said that after the traffic accident, Yont Thauron and his friends exited their vehicle and ordered the motorbike drivers around them to kneel down and apologise, leading to a furious argument'.

  Anyway the eventualities are clear, 1 dead, a couple of wounded and 1 poster banned from Khmer 440 forum. Will we ever find out the truth?

  'I'm not saying that the stories aren't true, I do not know if they are or if they aren't, but it just doesn't sound like him. Again, thank you everybody for you condolences'.

• Humour from NZ:

  'Mel writes: "Just before our departure - for the practical test of my full driver's licence - the instructor asked me to test the horn to make sure it worked. Knowing full well that the horn did not work, I turned my head to the right and let out a vocal 'hooonk'. He replied, unconvinced, 'What was that?' I told him it was my car's horn. He dryly noted that he hoped my driving was better than my honking ... I passed no problem."

  Probably would not get a pass in Cambodia; tsss... a car with no horn!

Chasing Cars, 10 February 2008

Despite heavy presence of police on Phnom Penh's roads, helmet wearing seems to be going out of vogue. Crossing Cambodia's own observations are close to 80%, 10% down off January's figures.

• Has everybody noticed how stories are all cut and pasted from the Phnom Penh Post nowadays? This much to the detriment of Cambodia Daily which also seems out of vogue as a source of news.
  On the Khmer 440 forum site they simply snap and paste a photo of a Cambodia Daily article.

  'Singers Daughter accused in Hit and Run'

  Quite a unique case, as nearly always the culprit escapes, let alone is pursued and shot at by police and brought to justice. Result: culprit must pay and is leaned on by law and justice authorities. Also check out the comments added on the forum, seems like the traffic police are busy ...

• More from the same forum, this time on parking agents or are they security guards?
  Every respecting business in Phnom Penh retains the right to use the sidewalk in front of the business as private parking area, even CC's hairdresser! Donned out in an official looking uniform they assist parking the vehicles and expect a bit of tea money when you leave. But how much? All the answers in this thread.

• Phnom Penh is to get it's first flyover near the Monivong bridge, where the flyover will ensure that the PM can pass the snarled up traffic en route to his office. Funny thing is that the drawings seem to indicate that certain traffic (east from Monivong to north Norodom) will not be allowed anymore. Let's just see how this works out. The municipality are already looking into the feasibility of another 'sky bridge' as they say.

• Letters to the Phnom Penh Post Editor:

  'Driving on Phnom Penh's roads is quite confusing. This does not mean there are no road signs, traffic lights or police instructions. It means that road users do not respect one another's rights - most usually compete with each other for space on the roads.
  Car and motorbike drivers are the two dominant competitors. It is common to see them using the wrong lanes. They cross each other's lanes and never care about their position on the road, meaning motorbikes are in car lanes and vice versa. But the worst case is when cars and motorbikes take over pedestrian routes. This causes confusion among pedestrians and drivers, and accidents are usually caused due to disrespect for the rights of pedestrians.
  Cyclists and pedestrians are the losers in this road competition often because cyclists do not have their own lanes. They usually use the same routes as their fellow motorbike or car drivers. This has created an environment in which riding a bicycle is difficult and dangerous, and for pedestrians it is even harder. They are often forced to walk on streets where traffic is heavy. Drivers blow their horns at them to move out of the way, but sometimes they are hit.
  Pedestrian paths are stolen by house and shop owners along our roads. These owners usually block the pedestrian's path with their personal business, such as their parked vehicles or expanded shopfront. Sometimes they even claim the road in front of their houses as their own property, banning everyone from parking vehicles.
  As long as people compete for road space and continue to disrespect traffic laws, we will all be losers. Clearly, no one benefits when faced with traffic accidents.
  People need to know their rights on the road, but if they don't then the authorities need to step in. The recent helmet safety campaign is a good example of intervention by the authorities.
  Meas Bunly, Phnom Penh'.

  A good example, but will they follow through?

• And more compliments to Phnom Penh authorities:

  'Dear Editor,
  I totally agree with Matthew Robinson (The Phnom Penh Post, Letters to the Editor, January 22) about the removal of the chairs and tables from the riverside - Sisowath Quay.
  Whose bright idea was this? Much of the charm has disappeared and I suspect many people, including me, will go for an outdoor drink or bite to eat in another area where we are not forced to sit indoors now at some of our favorite spots.
  All those beautiful palm trees in front of the Bougainvillier Hotel gone, as well as easy access to many menus. Now you have to go inside to look at most of them.
  Have the police been around to check on the cars parked right across one's path, or seen the many motos that now fill the spaces left vacant by street sellers? This morning I even saw a tuk-tuk parked on the sidewalk. Nice change!
  Michael Sharpe, Phnom Penh'.

• Stan Kahn reports on a section of Highway 3:

  'Kamchey Dam, being built by a Chinese company upriver from Kampot on the edge of Bokor Park, is proceeding apace along with the destruction of most of the road to Teuk Chou rapids and sizable chunks of National Highway 3. The culprit is the use of very heavy trucks for construction materials. It’s too bad they couldn’t find the rock fill they need closer because a good 20 kms of road is under attack'.

  Beware!

• In Vientiane, Lao they have also problems with parking, the Vientiane Times reports. But they also have solutions:

  'Several car parks are under construction in Vientiane and when completed will go some way towards addressing the parking problem in the city'.

  They also acknowledge that there is still some way to go:

  'However, a major challenge is that vehicle owners ignore allocated parking areas because they don't want to walk any distance to reach their destination'.

  Lazy!
  

• Fining cars is illegal?

  'Cars carrying more than the legal limit of five passengers are being fined at checkpoints in Battambang province, which drivers claim is illegal'.

  If something is illegal then fining the culprits is um .... fine?
  Not so apparently according to this Phnom Penh Post.

  'Prime Minister Hun Sen had ordered checkpoints in the provinces be shut down'.

  The police claim they are right, however
  

  'Hun Sen last week threatened to sack any governors or officials whose provinces have illegal checkpoints'.

  One plus one is not two?

• Finally a couple of pics Crossing Cambodia received via email. Crap happens, luckily Cambodia's emergency services are out in force. Drive safely!
  

Synopsis II

As Crossing Cambodia starts in it’s 3^rd year of reporting on Cambodia’s traffic situation (and over 7,000 visitors), a brief resume is not out of place.

The first year, this site stated that Cambodia’s traffic is pure anarchy / chaos which was backed-up by many similar reports both on Cambodia’s own situation as well as comparisons with neighbouring countries.

If anything this reign of chaos and anarchy has strengthened. The difference being that increased numbers of vehicles have lead to more chaos. Is it disregard to other road users, ignorance or simple evil that fuels this process?

Part of the problem lies in the fact that Cambodia traffic police are reluctant to get involved. Relegated to the sidelines (literally) they have no compulsion to take action; content with the odd campaign to fine the unfortunate few and rely on a steady stream of ‘voluntary’ contributions dished out by trucks, which are barred from the city for a great part of the day.

The past year has seen little change, though many encouraging voices of how the future will change. Though positive, the future itself will tell whether or not this will happen. And based on the past, we may well already know the answer.

With the increase of traffic, death rates have also increased substantially. With over 80% dying from head related injuries, one would expect that authorities are taking helmet wearing compliance as a serious issue. Though much has been noted in the lip-service on this issue, in reality, the past year helmet wearing has come no closer than it was previously. Possibly it is all the more posturing such as to keep NGO’s happy rather than showing any interest in the safety of it’s own citizens. Especially in the light of how neighbouring countries have been able to successfully implement helmet wearing.

Despite a traffic law being accepted absolutely no aspects of the law are being implemented, i.e. it is totally ignored. Which is sort of a symbol of total apathy.
Other traffic aspects are totally disregarded, the last year has seen the vision of Cambodian authorities: more traffic lights. However any future vision is void; wait until total deadlock / mayhem and then react, seems to be the future. Even in Vietiane, Lao they are studying light rail options to assist city movement, recognizing that private options (though suitable/preferable) are in the end, deemed to increase deadlock and thereby contribute to economic damage.

Last year’s synopsis didn’t end on a high note, nor will this years. Pathetic seems to be a best description of traffic in Cambodia. Can it get any worse?

Chasing Cars Cambodian Style, December 4, 2007

• Despite the recent surge and the ever increasing land grabbing in Cambodia, work on the already approved and financed 2 km stretch of highway number 1 is delayed

  'due to the tardiness of the Cambodian side to resolve disputes on lands bordering the road'.

  Does this signify a change in government policy?

• Did you notice the scouts and girl guides were at it again on Saturday morning? On various corners of the most important crossroads in Phnom Penh, scouts and girl guides were using flags to make sure vehicles remained behind the line while the lights were red. By eleven they were off for lunch and failed to reappear. Did this have something to do with the visit of Burma's PM?
  

Wow, everybody stands in attention.

• 'Green: go, Orange: speed up, Red: still go'.

  At least that's this bloggers assumption of Phnom Penh traffic. He recommends an IQ test. How about law enforcement?

• Reuters has little idea about roads in Lao and Cambodia. On the participation of Lao and Cambodia at the current Southeast Asian games:

  'The teams from Laos and Cambodia will travel for hours along their notoriously potholed roads before being picked up by a fleet of Thai buses'.

  The distance from Vientiane to the border is 20 km, half an hour, just 1 or 2 potholes. The pothole sections in Cambodia are the roads to Siem Reap. Facts gentleman, facts!

• Cambodia Daily (December 3, 2007) reports on a drunken policeman who crashed his Toyota (yes, it was a Camry) causing two deaths and 1 injury. He however was not arrested (even though he hit a fellow officer after the accident) but will be called in for questioning

  'when he feels better'.

  Considering he just has killed two persons, Crossing Cambodia believes that he will not ever feel better in the rest of his life. Or at least he should not.

• More lights for Cambodia's city of lights. Six sets of traffic lights. Now if everyone would take notice of them .... . Ostensibly they are there for 'beautification' (the colours CC presumes) and for 'alleviating traffic' (to which less and less people are adhering).What about producing more scouts and girl guides to patrol the lights?
  

• Another new phenomena at important crossroads: child beggars, esp. at the corner of Sihanouk and Charles de Gaulle Boulevards. Fortunately they only target unsuspecting (and guilty feeling) foreigners, mostly in tuk-tuks on their way to the 'Killing Fields'.

• Nothing to do? Join PEPY (Protect the Earth. Protect Yourself) cycle tours around Cambodia.

• The going rate for petrol in Cambodia is more than $1, shock horror! Inflationary pressure, moto-taxi's going out of business. Meanwhile over the border in Vietnam, government subsidies mean petrol is 20% cheaper. What happens. Along the streets of Phnom Penh you can buy your petrol for a discount of 20-25%! Why lament Cambodia's governments inability to subsidize it's fuel supply, when you can get the Vietnamese to foot the bill?

• Our sports desk reports on the the first international professional golf tournament, won by a Grateful dead fan (.100 concert visits), Bryan Saltus. His caddie receives a new motorcycle for her effort. And any complaints. None at least from the Cambo PM who teed off the event, this in spite of him complaining about the state of the 'road' (or was it one big pothole) earlier in the year. Possibly his driver can see the potholes as the rains have stopped!
  

Chasing Cars, 29 September, 2007

• This week Burma is never far away. The played indignation of western nations, which have tolerated for too long an autocratic regime. But now the USA is coming down hard on the regime. Ms. Rice insists Burma give a visa to the UN special rapporteur! Hardly a threat, I would think. The Burma regime will have no rights to a visa for the US, as of now. 'Naughty boys all of you!' Anyway Cambodia's northern neighbour Laos has no such qualms, according to this link:

  'Than Shwe's family is on a visit to Laos, the source added'.

  They just flew there. One thing for sure, they're not there for the shopping!



• Talking about shopping, China (the only 'true' friend of Burma) has saved Cambodia another shopping sortie. For motorbikes. An everyday.com.kh translated article reports that Cambodia is in line to receive 104 motorcycles. Yippee!

  'The Chinese ambassador stressed that, in the future, if Cambodia has other needs, China will provide them further'.

  Just in case Cambodia goes the Burma way, it's a great reassurance.
  
  The motorbikes will be called upon by the traffic police, to help them beat out the midday sun? Have you not noticed how traffic police in Phnom Penh have problems standing upright, they are always propping themselves up with assistance of a motorcycle.
  Anyway thanks China, how about doing something about the printing of receipts for traffic fines, they still have not surfaced?


• 
  
  
  Fellow blogger Cambodia maps has problems on his shopping sprees, the traffic on 174th-51st is apparently 'interesting'



• Some shoppers are better off, though two Indonesians [?] are now less fortunate. They are the 'puncture car thieves': car goes to bank, draws from expenses account (> 10,000 $US), returns, tries to leave, bummer! Flat tyre! While inspecting, thieves access car and take off with cash, Robin Hood style. Unfortunately, only
  

  'only two of them were caught on Mao Tse Tung Blvd'.

  There were four. So next time you intend to draw a couple of grand from your local bank, beware!



• More awareness required, but now for those unfortunate Lao. As if playing servant for their poor Burmese refugees (see above) is not enough, Lao authorities are drawing up a plan to ban tuk-tuks and jumbo's (a form of tuk-tuk, but with a larger motor, also known as a Skylab). Their offence?

  'Authorities see that these vehicles to some extent cause road accidents in the city, resulting in several deaths and injuries every month'.

  The Laoi authorities seek higher standards apparently:

  'We can all see that these vehicles are in poor condition. Some of them don't even have indicators, or front and back lights, ... '
  

  An expat quips the end is near, well sort of:
  

  'Tuk-tuks provide a form of service for which there is no substitute; it is one of the reasons I enjoy life in Laos, ...'
  

  How come in Cambodia the above practices are commonplace but authorities do not give a hoot?



• From The Mirror a couple of older articles: Survival Priorities for Road Traffic. An editorial. On the (lack of?) of implemention of the new traffic law. It also provides the author with the opportunity to mention:

  'I use a motorcycle-taxi – a “moto” - every day on Street 51. The moto driver and I were almost killed, when a big dark Landcruiser without license plates, but with a driver in uniform, almost knocked us over, high speed, disregarding the STOP sign on a road crossing Street 51 from where he came'.

  A daily occurence. He then adds:

  'Road traffic in Phnom Penh is chaotic. And dangerous'.

  He (or is it a she?) then comes with the same suggestions placed elders on this site.
  Then from a couple days prior to this:
  

  'In Three Days, 9 People Died and 17 Were Injured in Traffic Accidents in Phnom Penh'

  Again it refers to the new traffic law. And the author's observations:

  ' ... and what I have observed myself:

  1. New luxury cars without license plates - if they create an accident and they speed away, nobody can identify them – pass regularly in front of the traffic police without being intercepted, while several police talk down on people – judging from their clothes probably people from the countryside or young women – who came on small motorbikes.
  2. Government vehicles are supposed to be used for official duty; will traffic police be able to stop and report a big Landcruiser with a military number plate on a weekend, in which half a dozen beautifully dressed young ladies are being transported somewhere?'

  Gone shopping probably.

  'Nowadays, police may be afraid to report a “powerful vehicle” belonging to a “powerful institution.” Without a change in this power game, it is difficult to see how the necessary improvement of road traffic in Cambodia can be achieved, and how it will work.'

Vrom Vietnam

By just skimming some resources in Vietnam it is surprising what you could find. Here from Vietnam News:

Ha Noi strive to ensure improved traffic safety

Ha Noi meaning Vietnamese authorities. Striving to cope with increasing traffic and traffic associated problems, the local authorities in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city have drawn up long term plans to decrease the relative numbers of accidents and casualties. Partly this is ensured by road reconstruction, partly by education but there is also a prominent role for law enforcement.

The same article goes on to describe why accidents happen:

Lack of awareness and poor knowledge of traffic rules together with underdeveloped infrastructure, relaxed law enforcement and lack of public awareness campaigns were to blame for traffic accidents in Viet Nam.

The question is raised why such analysis does not take place in Cambodia? Surely speeding and drinking are not only to blame? Another interesting aspect is the drop in the number of reported traffic related deaths in HCM city. This seems to be a pattern as the same seems to be occurring in Phnom Penh. Here it surely not related to any obvious measure instigated. Crossing Cambodia's own theory is that as streets get clogged, speeds drop, which not necessarily means less accidents but rather that accidents are less dramatic. Witness Vientiane, Lao PDR where speeding and zipping around are pretty normal (still) but accidents result often in deaths.

Our Lao reporter

An article from the Lao State press agency. Apparently they are trying to reduce accidents there as well. Same problems, drunk driving.

Road accidents go on claim lives of Vientiane resident

(KPL) Despite the number of road accidents decreased in Vientiane last week, the road accidents continue to claim lives of Vientiane’s residents.
This is according to the record of Vientiane Traffic Police Station (VTPS) showed that there was two people died caused accidents, out of 34 cases of accidents occurred from 16 to 22 October.
“The last two weeks, the figure of accidents have had 42 cases caused three people died, counting for over 130 million kip of damaged cost compared to last week figure went down”, said a senior police of VTPS.
The main cause of accidents occurred in Vientiane is attributed to road users violated traffic rule and drunk and driving. The accidents in Vientiane usually occurred with motorbikes.
The accidents like to happen during holiday or in the weekend, 6 to 9 pm because people drunk in this period.
The students are not the main group related the accidents but it is a group of workers and civil servant. The Sikhottabong and Xaysettha districts are the top of accidents happened.