Chasing Cars, Mooncake day 2010

Highlighting Cambodia's inability in providing safety for road participants, no less than the DG of the Transport Department has explained that if Cambodia is to attain the ASEAN goal for reduction of road fatalities (in 2010), it's the international communities concern, not Cambodia's.

'“We will not achieve the goal because our capacity is still young,” Ung Chun Huor, director general of the Transportation Department at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, said at a workshop in the capital on Friday. “We have insufficient funds and a lack of human resources to promote traffic safety.”'

He also had no clue on how much funds were already attributed to traffic safety but rest assured, traffic safety concerns are only donor driven, so what can he do? How about enforcing the law?

• Talking of which, police are now enforcing a one way traffic sign on street 130 in Phnom Penh. It's more newsworthier than the above.

• Along with the stoppage on major construction projects in the capital, Cambodia's first assembly plant is getting a bit late.

  'Camko finance director Lim Visal said yesterday that the plant would be ready to assemble cars by the end of the year, but declined to specify a date'.

  And Camko are not a real estate developer ....
  

• More development, a new airport in Siem Reap. Just last week a pipe dream, now awaiting construction. Logic: big airport, more and bigger planes, more tourists = more money.
  But is it a good investment? Could be, but again Camko involved as well as another until now unknown company. Maybe it's still a pipedream ....
  Btw, who saw that they believe that the new airport will result in a 4 or 5 fold increase in passengers? Does it mean they don't know?

• Again the Japanese are announcing the construction of their bridge over the Mekong. It seems to be taking for ever.
  

• 
  From the Phnom Penh Post (14 September 2010) :

  'Two technologies dear to the heart of Phnom Penh’s expat community – the tuk-tuk and free Wi-Fi – have been combined. Mobile-phone provider qb has launched 15 special tuk-tuks that are set to travel around the capital offering an internet connection to “anyone in the area”. The vehicles will also act as showrooms for qb'.

• Khmer440.com has a discussion on songteaws. Why possible in Thailand, not in Cambodia? Next week they will have a discussion on the use of old Mercedes buses. Why in Vietnam, not in Cambodia?

• Flight information. India is just another country which probably won't start flights to Cambodia even though their intentions are well-meant. In the meantime Cambodia Angkor Airways (CAA) is on the way to expansion.

  'It also plans to expand operations to South Korea, China, Singapore, Bangkok and Hanoi.
  Cambodia and Vietnam are also preparing to open a new route from Da Lat, in central Vietnam, to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, a move already approved by Cambodia’s Council of Ministers'.

  And with loads of just over 60%, a year after taking off, it's can't be deemed to be making money despite officials naming it a success. I also heard on the grapevine that CAA are still no way near to starting up flights to Sihanoukville, despite massive interest from Bangkok Air. Being a state run enterprise though means they can block that interest ...

• An exposition of photo's of Phnom Penh communities who until recently lived on the rails.

To finish off with where we began, Phnom Penh Post had a fine article (not literally!) on the stealth tactics used by the traffic police.

'“It is important that traffic police keep safety on the road. Make sure that people respect you and the law,” Touch Naruth [Municipal Police Chief] said yesterday as he relayed a message given during his Tuesday meeting. “Don’t just stand under trees and jump out to crack down on drivers without helmets or mirrors. It’s dangerous for you and drivers on the roads.”
...
However, it appears not everyone agrees with the police chief’s strategy. Him Yan, director of the public order department at the Interior Ministry, said hiding behind trees is “an unavoidable strategy”.

“This strategy is to make people cease their bad habits,” Him Yan said. He said other countries also employ such measures to enforce the law.
But Long Chy, a 34-year-old motorbike-taxi driver, said that he blamed police for causing traffic accidents when trying to surprise rule-breakers.
“Police activities are much more anarchic than regular people’s,” he said'.

Well, as trees are slowly disappearing from the city, will traffic police follow?

Chasing Cars, Cambodia: bumper cars galore! May 12, 2008

Any changes with last week? Sure it’s a lot wetter on the road. Last week Tuesday, Phnom Penh went gridlock as the roundabout of Wat Phnom went underwater forcing the rest of the traffic to seek alternative routes which surprise, surprise are hardly available. And with the Cambodian penchant to seek a route where there’s none the result was clear.

Has anyone noticed that there are increasing numbers of moto drivers with their helmets on? On Saturday nearly 45%, which is a record of sorts, considering that the normal rate used to be 20-30% for over quite some months. Females are again heading the pack with 50-55% of the women drivers driving helmet clad.

Is it pure coincidence, do you think, that the helmet wearing rate is going up, now the rains are well under way? The onset of the rains is also the most unsafest period, slippery roads and the lack of good tyres lead to many accidents with just one vehicle involved. Over the weekend a moto driving just behind CC wobbled and fell without any clear cause. The passenger seemed to come off worst, but probably nothing broken.

• Andy Brouwer in his blog gives us a different example of all too common Cambodian accident:

  'The traffic chaos on the city's streets was brought home to me on Saturday. As we left Phnom Penh on our way to Battambang, the traffic slowed to a crawl as we passed by a tragic scene in the middle of the road. A young woman on her moto had moments before been struck by a petrol tanker and her limp body was being held by a distraught friend who was shrieking loudly, as everyone stood by and stared. No-one lent a hand including the policemen at the roadside who didn't flinch, even though the dead woman's brains were splayed all over the road. The traffic laws, such as they are, are ignored by everyone. It really is every man for himself'.

• His excellent blog also has a recent example of Cambodian rail travel:

  'Rail travel in Cambodia is slow and incredibly uncomfortable. I'm pretty sure that passenger services have been officially postponed though they still happen but they're 'not official'. Instead, in various spots around the country where you find a railway line, you can find a 'norry' or bamboo train, which as you can see from these photos are a wooden platform on metal wheels that are powered by a small electric motor'.

• Talking about rail, leads to what’s next? As the overall Cambodian railroads are getting shaped up (possibly?), a Mekong Times article reports on the additional need of $500 million for a railroad to Vietnam.

  'Cambodia is seeking US$500 million in loans or aid to construct a 255 km rail link to Vietnam, though China has already pledged 20 million Yuan (around US$2.8 million) to the project'.

  China surely sees the logic and has correspondingly maxed it’s donation (or is it a loan, time will tell). It’s expected to be finished by 2020, which is an optimistic prediction.

• More on the shopping list:

  'Cambodia needs at least 2.5 billion U.S. dollars to implement the master plan of national road construction. The budget for national road construction will be increased if the oil price increases, Sun Chan Thol [Minister of Public Works and Transportation] said'.

  This last point is certainly cryptic and defies logic. Lost in translation?

• In the meantime VOA Khmer reports that

  'about 100 Cambodians, from motorcycle taxi and tuk-tuk drivers, vendors and politicians, met in a public forum Friday, urging the end of graft and the passage of anti-corruption legislation'.

  What’s the significance of this? Oh well, I believe Thaksin of Thailand started off with his downfall when he rubbed the taxi drivers the wrong way up, so who knows?

• Talking of the tuk-tuk-ers, on the tripadvisor forum there was this entry:

  'Avoid the tuk tuk "mafia" that hang out in front of this hotel [FCC]. They assume that everyone is extremely well off and will do anything to bilk you. There is one guy who has several of these drivers under his charge and he attempts to set the prices as high as possible. If you do use these horrible people make sure you negotiate a price BEFOREHAND regardless of any promises they make about "paying whatever you like later” '.

  Then again the only reply to this goes very much like this:

  'I have been to PP several times and spent weeks there and we have always found tuk-tuk drivers to be honest, nice, and good-natured guys'.

• Talking of inflation, tour companies in Siem Reap are increasingly being confronted with
  

  'profit loss on tour package sales for tourist coming to Cambodia as price of goods is steadily growing'.

• A snap-shot of Phnom Penh’s roads:

  ‘In the days of a pavement-less Phnom Penh, engulfed in roads of dust and mud, the water used to wash most dishes in the city was less than clean’.

  This from 'Streetside Snacks, a guide to eating on the street' from Cambodia Pocket Guide.

• Another article from the same source but without an i-link, Rolling Thunder:

  'The first thing I recommend is to install ”I am a truck, not a car” air horns. The effect is amazing. Watch the road ahead of motos and general floatsam move over as you pound your Hornmaster 5000. … A horn is your best friend, use it. Your second best friend is your rear-view mirror. … Get your own heavy duty candle power lights … really really big ones'.

  Justin Garnett, the author, then gives his final advise:

  'Drive slowly, use your eyes, stay calm (I struggle with this one), don’t drive at night and you should be fine. Even better don’t drive at all. Stay at home'.

  !

• Back to the Khmer New Year. The Bayon Pearnik (issue 141, May 2008) besides describing the traffic mayhem that’s Khmer New Year ('New records set' from the Cockroach Corner) also mentions ('on a cheerful note') that the bridges on the road to Koh Kong were thrown open, but only for the holidays. Here’s a link to a recent view of the road to Koh Kong.

• Fables of the unknown?

  'An Indian company wants to invest in an airport and an electric cable car system in the Preah Vihear Temple region'.

  Will it see the light?

  'Hang Sot [director of the Preah Vihear National Authority] said: “We don’t know as yet when the project will start or how much it will cost'.

• Another dream up in smoke? Despite it being a Cambodian carrier, Angkor Airways is a Taiwanese company, so it seems. Anyway that’s irrelevant as it’s company

  'has run into financial difficulties after the detention of a top company executive on criminal charges in Taiwan'.

  Another article sheds more light:

  'Lou [the detainee] was responsible for the financial management of the branch, the carrier said, and without him, the branch faced insurmountable cash flow problems'.

  Let’s hope the Indonesian connection works out better for Cambodia’s so called flag carrier, wherever it may be!

• Well, last years crash in the Cardomons is in serious need of revelations a la 'Aircraft crash Investigation':

  'The investigation of the plane’s flight recorders, or black boxes, was concluded in March but it is still unknown what caused the crash’,

  the Cambodia Daily reports on May 6. The main scandal is that the relatives of the deceased still haven’t received an adequate compensation with the airline (PMT) referring to an unnamed insurer. The State Secretariat for Civil Aviation refuses

  'to provide details about the planes owner, the insurance company or what investigators discovered from examining the black boxes'.

  In this light it’s great news that the Indonesians will be shaking up the civil aviation scene in Cambodia. Or not?

• Did anyone have questions concerning Cambodia Daily’s (May 9, 2008) article headline 'Bridge from S’ville to Snake Island Nearly Done'? Excerpts from the first paragraphs:

  'On June 7, PM is scheduled to officially inaugurate the construction of a bridge connecting Sihanoukville with Snake Island as part of a $300 million project to develop the site, officials said. … Nop Heng, director of Sihanoukville’s Public Works and Transport department said the bridge which is expected to take two years to build,'

  So not so nearly done! It’s also not clear whether or not the bridge is meant for traffic. Concerning the aforementioned Angkor Airways is it not strange that in this case the Snake Island Investment Group’s Executive Director 13-year prison sentence has no influence on the project, while with the detention of Angkor Airway’s owner, the company folds?

Well that’s all from 'Cambodia: worth a wager (?)' Crossing

Chasing Cars, Khmer New Year 2008 style

• Some would forget that this week is part of the global effort to ensure road safety. This was passed off in Phnom Penh by a great celebration in the Olympic Stadium. At the pow-wow, Chreang Sophan, Deputy Governor of the Phnom Penh Municipality, representing the Municipal Governor Kep Chuk Tema, stated amongst others that:

  'Responding to these issues [increasing numbers of accidents] under the smart [?] leadership of Samdech Akkak Moha Senapadei Dekchor Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Phnom Penh Municipality will be implementing road constructions and road repair plans by paving roads in four districts by the end of 2008, and other plans will be implemented in three other districts in the suburbs'.

  If this is the government's response, then clearly they are in serious need of (re-)education. Furthermore:

  'The deputy municipal governor also called on citizens who travel in the city to drive carefully, and firmly practice the measures passed in the land traffic law. Especially those who use motorcycles and bicycles must wear helmets. ... He appealed to all citizens, the users of vehicles and the users of roads countrywide, to respect and to strictly implement the measures stated in the Cambodian Land Traffic Law, ...'.

  Clearly this official fails to grasp the reality of the traffic law, i.e. bicycle drivers do not require helmets! In a summation of the most important measures of the now old traffic law, this official fails to signify that traffic police are not to accept 'donations'. Practically the only time these curb huggers get into action is to accept donations from passing trucks. Strictly implement?
  

• Cambodia Daily (April 8, 2008) also comments on this 'celebration'.

  'Road Safety Week, which kicked off Sunday, aims to raise awareness and reduce traffic awareness and reduce traffic accidents in the days during and around the three day holiday. ... Sun Chanthol [Minister of Public Works and Transport] urged travelers to keep from speeding and overloading vehicles. He also called on motorcyclists to wear safety helmets and for drivers to follow new traffic laws'.

  Oddly enough (if you read next item) it quotes RTAVIS statistics:

  '.... 4 percent of drivers wear helmets'.

  A misquote / failure to understand statistics?
  

• What does the Cambodian donor community do, except financing such nonsense?

  'The president of Handicap International Belgium [HIB] stated that the topic of this Week of Land Traffic Safety, held for the second time in Cambodia, was to cooperate to reduce traffic accidents through the respect of the traffic law'.

  Cooperate! Luckily HIB are saved by a recent update on the roadsafetycambodia site concerning the use of helmets. Clearly, it states that the law should have been implemented as of Sept. 1 last year, but compulsory helmet usage is not being enforced (as are none of the other articles of the law).
  
  Here at Crossing Cambodia we have commented on the fact that only 25-35% of the moto's use helmets. This is validated by this research which concluded that the rate of helmet usage was about 28% with a variation of 25-34%. So much for their research, they could just of looked at this site (and saved some money / time).
  
  There was some variation though. On some roads outside Phnom Penh, up to 50% of the traffic participants had helmets on. Crossing Cambodia could also state that female drivers also more often use helmets. Their main conclusion:

  'Through out the survey, in 2008 we found that the number of helmet wearing increase in all surveyed national road and in average 8.66% increase. This number will rapidly increase if the new traffic law was respect by the people and the traffic police start to enforce the law and the traffic police take action on the people who don’t wear helmet'.

  Now where have we heard this before? Possibly the main donor of this organization could pay more attention to enforcement than 'cooperation'.

• In Bangkok, red light dodging has lead the authorities to institute cameras at more than 30 intersections. That's what today's (10 April 2008) Bangkok Post mentions on it's front page.

  'During a trial more than 2,000 vehicles went through red lights in a week at 15 intersections where cameras had been installed.'

  Goes to show, that the only gain, in traffic culture, is pain! Hello Cambodia,are we paying attention?
  

• A comparison with Iraq! Finally, Cambodia has something to be proud of. Or not? The Cambodia Daily of sometime this week reports on an ox-cart which was rigged to a bomb so as to injure/kill it's owner!

  'At about 6 am (Monday, April 7, 2008), an activist for local rights group Adhoc in Kampong Chhnang province, was about to move his oxcart in Khlong Popoak commune, when he discovered two large recoilless rifle shells tied to a small trigger under the cart'.

  It could have caused an explosion covering 30 square meters!

• Cambodia Daily (7 April 2008) headlines: 'Cops among four arrested on extortion claims':

  'The four [a district police official, a provincial tax officer and two money collectors] allegedly operated a checkpoint on a 7 km dirt road taking money from fish sellers and drivers since 2004 [!]. They apparently took [extorted is meant] up to $50 per vehicle. A local company received permission to collect tolls [read bribes] from 2004 to 2020, but not until repairs the company had promised [ah promises are not meant to be kept] are done'.

  Only now has action been undertaken, does this have anything to do with the coming elections except pure co-incidence?

• Innovative ways to ask drivers to be more human? 'No Horn Day' for instance in Mumbai. For those of us who fail to grasp English, it has nothing to do with sex.

  'Mumbai is very horny. ... Everybody honks because the other is honking. It’s an atavistic instinct it seems. I will be thought of as weak if I don’t honk. They honk when they get free roads and honk of course when there is a red light. Of what use is the horn when the Red light is speaking to you. Why pressurize? But I am an old man at 30 closing my ears at different junctions. Everyday I invariably tell the auto I am in to not honk. Only to be stared back in hatred. Drive, they ask back in silence. Drive in this mess you elite bastard with weak ears, they seem to ask me. I ask them if they don’t hate all this honking? They smile back. Occupational hazard…why take it so seriously! The world honks and so do I. So will you, once you take the wheel'.

  Well, things change:

  'On Monday, officially declared No Horn Day, the Mumbai traffic police, in a fell swoop, fined thousands of drivers for violating honking rules in the city. The count up to 6 pm was 6,195 cases.
  Beginning Monday night, the cops plan to crack down further and prosecute offenders under the Environment Protection Act, which has far more stringent penalties: this act, which can be used in cases ranging from bursting firecrackers or blasting loudspeakers after 10 pm to honking at night, has a maximum fine of Rs 1 lakh depending on the severity of the offence.
  
  "This will prove an effective deterrent to errant drivers," joint commissioner of police Hemant Karkare told TOI. "However, this move is at a preliminary stage. We need some more preparation before we go the whole hog".
  
  Karkare declared that the crackdown against shrill and reverse horns, unnecessary honking and honking in silence zones would go on. When a journalist mentioned that SRK felt that No Horn Day should continue for a week, he riposted, "It's not one day or one week. This will now continue permanently".

Minor news, a round up:

• Another motorbike stolen while simultaneously shooting it's owner.
  
• A bus kills a cyclist, who forgot to look over his shoulder.
  
• Connect Cambodia (with?) is/are astounded by the 'traffic sprawl'.
• Cambodia's PM knows what his citizens are thinking:

  'For Hun Sen, there are several reasons which explained this low participation. First of all, the Phnom Penh city dwellers “are fed up with the traffic jams caused by these demonstrations.”'

  Considering there are hardly 'these demonstrations' taking place (unless in front of KFC on Monivong, where demonstrations of lack of consideration take place on a daily basis) and traffic grid lock is expanding daily, maybe it might pay to get traffic lights to function and to enforce the need for motorists to stop when the light is red!
• An older article which has just resurfaced on Crossing Cambodia's desk. Alas, no date, but undoubtedly from the Cambodia Daily. Ship had hit another sunken ship.

  'A Phnom Penh Port Authority official claimed that Friday's capsizing of a boat carrying sand on the Tonle Sap occurred after it had snagged the top of another sand-carrying boat that had been sitting on the bottom of the river since December. ... Phnom Penh police chief Touch Naruth reiterated Monday that there were no tourists aboard the vessel and ....'.

  What a relief! No tourists on a sand barge!
  

Cambodian Officialdom on Planes, Trains and Assorted

Sometimes reporting on transport concerns in Cambodia has much to do with 'Aladdin and his magic lamp", Alladin being Cambodian officials, the lamp representing the 'idea'.

Take for example a number of messages the last week.
Case 1: Cambodia to set up new national airline
As reported all over the world, but here linking to the article on the KI Media website. The essence: Cambodia's government strikes a deal with an Indonesian company allowing it to operate a national flag carrier in return for a significant amount of the profit.

Two problems in this story, they are 'national' and 'profit'. The current situation in Cambodian skies is that there is no government owned airline (though there are other Cambodian companies such as Royal Khmer and President Airlines), a unique factor which has attributed to the overall growth of the tourism sector, one of the main pillars of Cambodia's economy. With the absence of vested (national and thus political) interests, the Cambodian government has been encouraging as much business as possible. the more the merrier. Nearly everyone can fly in to / out of Phnom Penh and whether they make a profit or not is not the Cambodia's government's concern. The one exception is the Bangkok - Siem Reap sector which is run as a monopoly by Bangkok Airways, condoned by the current Cambodian government.

So why now try to set up a national flag carrier? With the significant recent growth of tourism, the perception has been that Cambodia's economy fails to profit sufficiently. One problem is the lack of national production meeting tourists demand. As such nearly everything is flown in, leaving just construction and employment in tourist services as significantly contributing to the Cambodian economy. To address this 'leakage' problem, the idea apparently is to get an airline in place and tax the profits. One problem is that even if profits are forthcoming (a big problem for other flag carriers in Southeast Asia) accounting procedures in Cambodia are hardly established meaning that the Cambodian government may well see nothing of it's share of the profits. Even though they have a substantial part of the airline, the aircraft will probably be leased, so the government is getting 51% of the airlines assets which equals zero, which in Crossing Cambodia's calculation is still zero.

That said, in the meantime there may be the possibility to commandeer seats or even a whole aircraft so as to get officials kids/wives to school/shopping in Bangkok / Hong Kong, a phenomena which has arisen in recent years just over Cambodia's eastern border.

But with the current 'open skies' policy, there is hardly any room for extra flights (i.e. there is perfect competition). This implies that these policies must change so as to allow the national carrier to access profitable routes (to / from Thailand and / or China) or (so as not too frighten the current carriers) to make sure any future growth in flights to Cambodia is awarded to the national flag carrier.

Even though some questions remain (how big will the flag carrier be?), with the signature of Peter Sondakh, the Cambodian government seems to have a guarantee that future payments to the state will take place. Mr. Sondakh is an Indonesian with quite some experience and very deep pockets: his company is currently trying to take over the Indonesia flag carrier, Garuda. However, Indonesia has in the past had massive problems with corruption as well as having a dismal record in regulating it's skies, not necessarily aspects which would look good on a potential airline's investor's report card. With Cambodia's recent past in aviation littered by accidents and failed airlines one might wonder whether or not this investment will assist Cambodia at all.

But one thing that does stick is that in the run-up to elections, playing to nationalistic sentiments surely must pay off. But whether it makes economic sense?

Case 2: French company plans to operate trams in Cambodia
The full story here. The essence. Big French muliti-billion company (Alsthom) devise plan to have it's products up and running in Cambodia. It impresses local officials who will now support it. No mention is made of who will pay for this.

Possibly this latter, is part of the overall strategy: here we are, we will solve all your plans, you just have to start to yearn /crave for it, then cough up some money (in case no money is forthcoming maybe we can ask French 'gouvernement' for some bridging finance, possibly with some EU money somewhere along the track). Whether or not it solves the problem is entirely besides the question, who doesn't want to impress all and sundry (including voters) with a swish train / tram / lorrie which does not seem to cost anything?

Just a few months back, the Thai were here proclaiming how their Skytrain would be up and running in the near future.

Possibly both the Thai and the French should heed the experience of the Japanese who couldn't even get a bus system running within Phnom Penh. Let's hope the Chinese can get a reliable taxi system working (should not be beyond them).

So should we not dream? Yes, no problem with that, but current problems with traffic congestion are simply due to the lack of adhering to a simple language of red light means stop. Last Tuesday evening Crossing Cambodia plied through Monivong Boulevard during rush hour while it was totally packed, but only due to the fact that the main crossings were blocked and blocked again. Get everyone to stop when lights are red, go when green and the need for sophisticated systems of transport will not be required at least for the near future.

If starting now with a city bus system , this would be effective in 1-2 years time and in 5 years time look for a mass transport system, preferably underground, that's how it is done internationally, even in Bangkok and Paris!

Case 3: Dong Thap [province in vietnam] approves road link to Cambodia. The link, the essence: with just 4.5 million dollars this Vietnamese province will build a road, basically for their own satisfaction. Where's the money coming from?[everybody suddenly takes an interest in their shining shoes and /or are all the lights on?]

Case 4:Cambodia asks China, India, Japan to help improve rural projects
The link, the essence of the stories: Hun Sen (the ever-serving Cambodian PM) needs to develop the country fast (after all elections are coming up in six months) so he now requests China and Japan for hand-outs. What the Chinese get out of the deal Crossing Cambodia hardly knows, but they tend to look well after themselves (as do all other 'donors'). With Toyota cars making up half of the standard Cambodian car-park, their 'donation' will always reap handsome rewards.

But what do the cases have in common? A lack of vision, a lack of will to tackle the problems themselves, a absolute disregard to finances ('Cambodia is such a poor country, please forgive us our debts') and a faith in piecemeal approaches to overall economic and social problems. It all seems to be tied in with power, the power to have and how to keep this power. Well, as long as it's not Crossing Cambodia's money, it's not my problem. What does worry Crossing Cambodia is that in the event of an adverse economic climate elsewhere (the states?) how at all will the country survive? On nearly all aspects Cambodians rely and continue to rely on having absolute faith in the goodness of foreigners / foreign countries to dole out money to address their simple problems. In Thailand you win elections promoting self-sufficiently, here presumably by passing the bill on to future generations, be they Cambodian or foreigners. Let's hope that the money tap continues to be open for a long, long time, while the local politicians start rubbing up the lamp once more!

Cambodia's main railroad from phnom Penh to the coast!

The future?

India as a guiding light? Well, there is the possibility, though in many ways Cambodia is ahead of the South Asian billion persons nation. But in India they have a 'four-lane toll motorway' according to an article from the NZ Herald. Titled 'Driven to distraction' it seeks to commend India as a five star tourist destination for thrill seekers. Some excerpts:

'So we're roaring along this busy four-lane toll motorway at 90kph when suddenly there's a cart drawn by a tattooed camel heading towards us going the wrong way down the fast lane.'

Well, roaring at ninety?

'But the interest goes well beyond vehicles and animals blithely disregarding which side of the motorway they're on. That's just the start. '

Terrible, on the wrong side of the road!

'Drivers also ignore lane markings - one stretch of motorway bowed to reality by having none - preferring to straddle the centre line so they can swerve from side to side as required.'

Seems logical

'... at roadworks they don't just have a man with a red flag to warn drivers to slow down but also a big guy in a turban armed with a rifle to back him up. Maybe that's an idea our own [NZ] Land Transport Safety Authority could pick up.'

Well, that's an innovation over Cambodian, here they (road workers) just disregard traffic and vice versa unfortunately.

'Part of the reason there are so few accidents is the way drivers use their horns to send carefully calibrated signals about their intentions. A gentle toot means "I'm here". A slightly louder one asks, "Please pull over so I can come through." A forceful blast declares, "Hey, you're not following the rules, pull over now." It seems to work well. Most trucks carry signs on the back saying, "horn please" and "blow horn".'

Does the same apply to Cambodia? Small repeated honking "I'm approaching the crossroad and have no intent of stopping for whatever". A long, loud impatient horn: "I'm driving an expensive and big car. I was personally instrumental (=accepted the bribes) in providing you poor and Camry driving and motorcycling masses with this here stretch of road, so if you want to avoid being arrested after my car gets a couple of scratches and you are handicapped for the rest of your life (and pay for those scratches) you better move over". Sort of.

What's more mind boggling is that anyone would travel to India for this sort of experience when Cambodia is more accessible, speeds are bigger and Cambodia is just starting to cater to 'real' tourists. Cambodia can also provide a couple of temples to look into. The future for Cambodia is bright.