So Many Motorbikes! – March 2019
Motorbikes (which includes scooters and motorcycles) are the best way to travel in most Vietnamese cities and towns. We saw riders (drivers) and passengers from all walks of life and all ages. Some wore face masks as protection from sun and air pollution.
The blanket around her legs prevents sunburn and keeps her clothes clean. 
Because of the vast number of motorbikes we spotted a wide variety of makes, models, styles, colors, and sizes of motorbikes.
We wanted to see the driver for this motorbike. 
Just for OSU’s Benny the Beaver 
Hello Kitty is very popular in Asia. 
This is the largest motorbike we saw in Vietnam.
Motorbike driving habits in Vietnam, as opposed to driving laws, are quite different from habits in the US. Traffic signals are treated as advisory only. Riders feel no need to wait for a green light to make a left turn. And they definitely have no need to signal when changing lanes or turning. Motorbikes and cars merging into traffic have the right of way by practice, if not by law. Quite often we observed motorbike riders driving against the flow of traffic, usually on the edge of the road, but not always. The scariest wrong-way driver we saw was an older man driving at night in Ho Chi Minh City with no motorbike lights and a tall propane tank strapped to the back. Fortunately most drivers and passengers wear helmets, as required by law.
This type of sign was rare. 
We only saw one of these signals. 
Front of a T shirt for sale
And of course we saw a few motorbike riders texting and talking on the phone which is risky because of the need to use hands for braking and acceleration.
We found out that sidewalks are not primarily for walking. They are for motorbike parking, to give motorbike riders another driving lane in heavy traffic, or for motorbike repairs.
The number of passengers and the activities of the passengers was interesting to observe. A sandwich of one driver and 4 passengers was the highest number we saw during our visit. Young children often rode in front of the driver on a special seat with long legs or standing on the floorboards of a scooter. We watched babies and children sleeping and eating while on moving motorbikes.
Three adults are seated behind the ice cream cone eater. 
Yes, he is “drinking” soup. 
Seat for small child
Grab service (similar to Uber and Lyft) includes motorbike transport in Vietnam. The driver provides a helmet for the passenger. Grab motorbike drivers can only have one passenger at a time and accept electronic payment through the app or cash. We saw quite a few local people using this service and paying with dong.
Grab driver in green jacket and green helmet
We were continually amazed at what items can logistically and reasonably be transported on motorbikes. Some of the most surprising cargo was furniture, a cello in a pink case, a sheet of glass between the driver and passenger, a flat screen TV, 2 bicycles, a ladder, and another motorbike that was affixed cross-wise to the passenger seat.
Takes practice to load those motor bikes with all that stuff! Wow! Certainly a very economical means of transport. How much is fuel there?
Pictures came right up. Thanks for fixing the problem.
Fuel prices in Vietnam are similar to US prices. Yes, it does seem like an economical way to commute and get around town.
Many of the children/babies are NOT wearing helmets in these pictures, I notice! I can’t even imagine … do they have more motorbike fatalities there than here, do you think? VERY interesting pictures … thanks for sharing so many!
Yes, more children and babies should wear motorbike helmets. We saw two or three motorbike accidents while in Vietnam and those did not involve serious injuries. Speeds in the cities are pretty low because of so much congestion. And most motorbikes do not have much power so higher speeds are not typical even in less busy areas.