Safety Aspects of Motorcycles in Rural Areas

Look closely at the motorcycle being pushed by three boys below. You will notice that all safety aspects of the motorcycle are missing. Even the motorcycle does not have plate or identification number. Besides that, they are not wearing any safety helmet.




You can have a closer look at the condition of motorcycle below. The motorcycle is heavily modified to such an extend that the riders' safety can be compromised.




The boys are waiting for his friends to get some petrol to refill his machine.




A bottle of petrol would be enough to roam the rural road.




In rural areas, petrols are sold in bottles since petrol stations not available along the road.

Some Facts about Motorcycles

As compared to Malaysia, the number of motorcycles on the road in most major cities in Vietnam is very high which is more than 90% of the total number of vehicles on the road. In Malaysia, the number of motorcycles is a little bit more than 50% and yet the motorcycles created a lot of issues especially safety related issues. The high number of motorcycles also created unique problems with respect to the design and operations of road system in the country.

The reason for the high number of motorcycles in Vietnam is mainly attributed to their previous war: only a handful of people can afford to buy automobiles.

In Vietnam, the road is overwhelmed by motorcycles even though the road is not designed for motorcycles. If there are other types of vehicles on the road such as cars or Lorries, they have to give ways to motorcycles.

As in the picture above, sometime in 2004, motorcyclists were not required to wear safety helmet. However, nowadays, it is mandatory for motorcyclists to wear helmet in Vietnam. The only thing is that they can wear any kind of helmet as long as there are some sorts of helmet to cover their head. Soon they will realize that they also need to emphasize more on the appropriate type of helmet to be used by motorcyclists in order to provide better protection during accident.

Due to the high number of motorcycles on the road, it is very challenging situation for pedestrian to cross the road. It takes a lot of guts to cross the road safely. But through my observations, the motorcyclists in Vietnam also adapted themselves to ensure they will not hit pedestrians while they are crossing the street.

Drive Safely

During this festive season, I would like to wish everybody a safe journey home especially to those who are travelling long distance. As seen in the picture above, I don't really know what happen to the motorcycle rider whether he is safe or not. By looking at the condition of the motorbike, hope that the rider is ok. The picture is taken somewhere in the 7th Mile town area in Kuching.

Motorcyclists Misbehavior

While travelling to work during rush hour in the morning and while approaching a roundabout, almost have an accident with a motorcycle. I was travelling on the right lane while several motorcycles were on the left lane while approaching the roundabout. Suddenly one of the motorcycles without giving proper signal suddenly turn into the right lane just in front of the car. Due to my reflective response, I had to press the brake and press the car horn which blazing loudly. Luckily the motorcyclist and his pillion rider heard the car horn and he swerved back into his own lane. Also, luckily the motorcyclist can still manage to ride his bike without any incident and there is also no vehicles trailing behind me at the time which also allows me to continue my journey without any incident.

The motorcyclist assume that he can just get in and out of the lane as he wished without even considering to look left or right to ensure that it is safe for them to do so. As a car driver it is very difficult sometime to predict the behaviour of the motorcyclists. Sometime they just behave unexpectedly which can cause severe accident. Thus, in order to reduce the fatality rate due to accidents, there are a lot of things need to be improved especially for the motorcyclists driving behavior.

Motorcycle Lane

Motorcycle lane is used to separate motorcycles from other types of vehicles thus will reduce the number of accident fatalities involving motorcyclists. Picture below shows the dedicated motorcycle lane separated from the highways using flexible pole. However, as can be seen in the picture, a motorcyclists did not want to use the motorcycle lanes and thus contributing to the still high accident rates involving motorcyclists.

That is why human behaviour is still the main factor contributing to the high accident rates.