Why didn't the chicken cross the road!

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Because the chickens not stupid that’s why!!!!!

My biggest safety concern while I was in Cambodia was definately anything to do with being on or near a road. Walking home in a drunken stupor a 4 am in the morning no problem, riding a pushbike during peak hour that’s another story.
While I was fortunate enough to date (touchwood) to avoid any major incidents I’ve had countless near misses including a couple of bumps from cars.

Full concentration is recondmended when crossing a road, driving on a road or even walking on the footpath which quite often doubles as a road in heavy traffic.
Around 50 people die each day on Cambodian roads everyday..Law enforcement of the road rules seems only to take place when the local “boy’s in Blue” need a little extra pocketmoney for the weekend. That could involve enforcement of “new” laws which nobody has heard of before…Pay the fine or come with me to the police station!!! The choice is yours?

Here are a few observations

*Redlights only mean slow down…They don’t mean anything after 9pm

*Intersection rules are that you don’t give way to anybody..infact you don’t even look if anybody is coming ..

*Air Horn abuse on buses in the normal. If a child is 50m off the road, it’s close enough to give the horn a couple toots. They toot a shadows. Can be quite painfull on a 4hr bus trip with a hangover.

*Drink driving is not an issue..No RBT’s!!! Hardly any police around at all after 9pm for that matter…Apparently fines for DD from $1.50- $200 in the highly unlikely event that you get caught.Intersections at night needed extra attention due to speeding, drunken khmers..

*They have an imaginary middle overtaking lane that we don’t have on western roads. This ensures no sleep at all is possible on bus trips..(combined with the air horn and booming Khmer karoake!)

*They mostly have no concept of what to do at an accident scene, they’ll just stand around and stare. I was talking to a Cambodian Doctor on a bus trip the other day about first aid and he was addement that’s there’s nothing that we can do anyway until I explained to him a couple of life saving things that could be done.
He then ignored me for the rest of the trip....... ;-)

* No driving license is required except for a driving a car. There’s no age limit for motobike drivers. I’ve seen children aged 9-10 who’s feet can’t even touch the ground cruising the streets.. Nearly everyone appears to have a bike.

*The number of people travelling on a bike or car is left to the imagination. Quite common to see 4/5 people on a bike and god know’s how many they pack in/on a minibus.

I love this clipping from the local Cambodian newspaper “The Cambodia Daily”..(this is word for word from the article!)

An Australian national allegedly crashed a sports utility vehicle into several cars and motorbikes before slamming into a tree on a popular bar street in Phnom Pehn’s Daun Pehn district in the early hours of Saturday morning,police said Monday.
The 48 year old man allegedly plowed a late model Lexus into 3 cars, 2 motorcycles and a building on 104 street at around 3.15am Saturday morning.
Although the driver appeared to be drunk at the wheel, no charges will be laid against him because he voluntarily reported the incident to police, said Pen Khun, a municipal traffic police officail who helps broker disputes stemming from car crashes….

That’s Cambodia for you ;-)

www.albyadventures.com

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Photos

What do you call a mini bus in Cambodia with nobody on the roof?
Half empty!

Who's fault is it???
The guy with the least amount of money.....

Tip for crossing the road...
Never walk backwards...exception if a truck is coming!

If all goes well.....
My new career!