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Practical road rules for travelling by motorbike in Vietnam.

Practical road rules for travelling by motorbike in Vietnam.

Old Sep 16th, 2013, 09:07 AM
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Practical road rules for travelling by motorbike in Vietnam.

Below are practical road rules for a motorcycle tour in Vietnam from Offroad Vietnam's customers and tour guides. They are professional bikers and coming back in one piece is the most important thing.

01. Larger vehicles have right of way. Avoid anything bigger than you and slow down.

02. Traffic is like a river, you have to flow in it. Riders will find a way to move forward.

03. Use signal and the most important thing is the horn. People don’t care about the noise of horns. It's a way to say "hello, I am coming"

04. Speed limit in Vietnam is very low (25-80km/h). Don’t break the speed limit, a speeding ticket is expensive. On average, most rider ride about 40km/h.

05. Animals are everywhere in the country or mountain roads. Dogs and chickens are the most then come water buffaloes, cows, pigs and horses etc. If you kill a dog or a chicken don’t stop, cry and feel sorry, it’s not your fault. Slow down when you spot these animals and don’t hit water buffaloes, cows, pigs and horses, simply they are too big!

06. Space between you and other riders (local people, guide etc.) should be far enough in order to have no surprise. In cities or crowded roads, the traffic is usually slow. On wide open roads or in the mountains, we suggest 10-20m. Don’t ever ride alongside your guide because he has lots of work to do.

07. Be careful with oil from trucks and buses at turns on the mountain roads, extremely slippery and many accidents happened due to this matter.

08. Buy a good road book (Vietnam Atlas) and do the timing and routing before you start a ride. If you get lost, ask more than two people as they may use different mileage unit or even direction.

09. If the police stop you (this rarely happens), just keep talking English or whatever you want and they’ll soon give up and let you go in less than five minutes. However, if you have a speeding ticket, you may end up paying a heavy fine of between 25$ - 50$US.

10. If the road is wet, use both brakes at the same time with more back brake as if you apply more front brake it slips. Most of rental bikes have front disc brakes and on 250cc dirt bikes you have front and back disc brakes.

11. Do not drink and drive.

12. Stop every one or two hours to cool down the engine and refresh yourself. Never ride over 250km/day, that's a pain in Vietnam.
anhwu is offline  
Old Sep 16th, 2013, 09:56 AM
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Motorcycle accidents are the leading cause of death of you people in VN as well as being the leading cause of death for tourists in VN. Even if you are an experienced rider, you are in unfamiliar countryside and in a place where the rules of the road are unfamiliar to you. A friend of mine was killed in a motorbike accident in SE Asia. We met some people in Burma who had just come from VN, and they met an Australian couple there. The couple was in a motorcycle accident, one killed instantly, the other badly injured and unclear whether she would live.
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Old Sep 16th, 2013, 10:12 AM
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Actually, the most important advice is to wear a helmet. Followed by not riding a motorbike abroad if you don't already have experience at home.
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Old Sep 16th, 2013, 10:16 AM
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... and even if you do have experience at home, IMO.
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Old Sep 16th, 2013, 07:33 PM
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Yes, you are all correct. Vietnamese law requires a helmet when you sit on the bike. But 90% of helmets in Vietnam is just a toy, I mean provides only very top of tyour head protection. Safety is very important and then riding experience. Ride smart and ride safe!
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