Hanoi
Hanoi crazy night traffic from v!Nc3sl4s on Vimeo
I came across this entrancing video of night traffic in Hanoi, a city said to currently have the highest per-capita motorbike usage in the world. It’s hard not to watch this and be dazzled by the wonderfully organic, almost aquatic flow — no man steps into the same Hanoi traffic stream twice. “It somehow works,” you hear people say. Matt Steinglass reminds us it’s not often as pretty as it looks.
I was in Hanoi last December, on the eve of the country’s new compulsory helmet law (which according to one account seems to have brought a 30% reduction in injuries, though presumably we’ll need more time and better science to see how it shakes out), and seeing this video had me in a nostalgic mood.
So allow me to drag out the photo album for a moment, of snaps taken mostly from the back of moto-taxis:
Watching Hanoi traffic is hypnotizing, like sitting on a beach and watching waves break.
There were many stylish riders, but helmets were not generally considered a vital accessory.
Not all two-wheelers were motorized…
Efficiency in action (here in the U.S we ‘need’ massive vehicles for minor loads)…
You were never quite sure what you were going to see in Hanoi traffic (these guys were spray-painting mannequins, using the street as workshop)
Traffic safety signs were abundant, if often hard to see…
An interesting traffic fatality/crash “scoreboard,” a la the “days since last accident” signs from factories…
And lastly, “shared space,” Hanoi style…
This entry was posted on Friday, November 7th, 2008 at 11:06 am and is filed under Bicycles, Cars, Cities, Cyclists, Drivers, Etc., Traffic Culture, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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