Vietnam's bikers get licence to ride

By Clare Arthurs BBC Hanoi correspondent

Road safety authorities in Vietnam say they have logged a massive jump in new driving licence applications since the government announced new measures to tackle the rising number of road deaths.

Increasing affluence has led to an explosion of bike ownership

So far this month, 14,000 people in Hanoi have applied for licences, under the new regulations.

The government says traffic is the main cause of preventable death in Vietnam, with 30 people dying every day in accidents.

Rising incomes and the popularity of motorbikes have turned many of the country's roads into obstacle courses, filled with honking bikes.

Fifty-eight year old Nguyen Chi Bao, says he is old and drives slowly, so he does not need a licence. He is typical of many Vietnamese who ride motorbikes.

In the southern city of Ho Chi Minh, official estimates show that half of the more than two million riders there are not licensed.

Driver training centres can expect student numbers to stay up by 40% for several months as riders flock to qualify.

Risky roads

The government has linked new motorbike registrations to driver licensing in an effort to reduce the number of road deaths - almost 12,000 this year.

Many Vietnamese still refuse to wear helmets

At a recent conference on preventing injury, the Ministry of Transport revealed that most accidents are caused by breaches of traffic laws.

Even those that pass the test for the licence rarely obey the rules. Drivers use both sides of the road, ride three or four to a bike, and rarely stop at red lights.

The Asian Injury Prevention Foundation says Vietnam expects to have more than 10m bikes on the road by the end of this year - in a population of 80m.

Increasing affluence and the availability of cheap Chinese motorbikes have contributed to an astounding growth in traffic. The transport department says the growth in motor traffic has jumped to 30% a year, up from just 10% a year a few years ago.

Vietnam's Communist rulers have announced plans to control traffic and reduce road deaths, but there appears to be internal tension over which government agency should take responsibility for a massive task.

The authorities have so far been unable to enforce rules on the wearing of motorcycle helmets.