A little aside on road safety
By my own observation, crossing the street in Cambodia appears only slightly less dangerous than bungee jumping.
It seems that they lose, on average, about 2400 people annually in motor vehicle accidents. Quite a staggering figure for a country of around 16 million. That works out to 15 deaths per 100,000- approx. 3 times as high as Canada. Of those deaths, 70% are motorcyclists and a surprisingly low 12% for pedestrians.
As an exercise in what most would consider stupidity, I crossed 3 main roads near our hotel tonight while searching out restaurants. There are very few crosswalks and those are barely visible with the painted lines worn away to nothing. Controlled intersections are virtually non existent so crossing any street requires one to wait for a reaonable break in traffic then a mad dash to the middle of the road and then a final dash to the other side. At dusk and later this manoeuvre becomes close to suicidal.
The majority of vehicles on the road are motorcycles, scooters and tuk tuks. Many riders seem to have no sense of road safety, driving in the dark with no lights, poorly functioning brakes, and a good percentage without helmets. Most ride with the traffic flow but some go against it.
Pedestrians walking with the traffic flow are blind to what is coming up behind them and sidewalks are generally unusable due to the many parked bikes and cars blocking the way. Adding to this are large piles of odorous garbage which also force pedestrians to the roadway.
Tonight I found myself relying on a small but powerful LED flashlight which I flicked on while crossing the street, even going so far as to aim it at bikers who seemed intent on driving as close to me as they could. One rider came within striking distance as they appeared intent on parking their machine in the exact spot where I was standing. A lengthy string of curses was probably lost on the idiot but I think he got the message that I was less than impressed.
I recall that Italian cities were often risky for pedestrians but they didn’t come close to Lima, Peru which I had previously considered the top spot for kamikaze road crossing techniques. After today I’ve demoted them to number 2, with Siem Reap now being awarded the Golden Pisspot for scaring the piss out of visiting tourists. From what I understand, Phnom Penh will move to top spot once we arrive there on Saturday and checkout the motor madness of the Capital city..
Hopefully I can find a Buddhist monk to pray for my safety in the next few days.
I’ve got the last episode of Man in the High Tower lined up to go on Amazon TV once I get home and I’ll be bummed if I miss the end having met my own end in the streets of Siem Reap.🙄😝😝
It seems that they lose, on average, about 2400 people annually in motor vehicle accidents. Quite a staggering figure for a country of around 16 million. That works out to 15 deaths per 100,000- approx. 3 times as high as Canada. Of those deaths, 70% are motorcyclists and a surprisingly low 12% for pedestrians.
As an exercise in what most would consider stupidity, I crossed 3 main roads near our hotel tonight while searching out restaurants. There are very few crosswalks and those are barely visible with the painted lines worn away to nothing. Controlled intersections are virtually non existent so crossing any street requires one to wait for a reaonable break in traffic then a mad dash to the middle of the road and then a final dash to the other side. At dusk and later this manoeuvre becomes close to suicidal.
The majority of vehicles on the road are motorcycles, scooters and tuk tuks. Many riders seem to have no sense of road safety, driving in the dark with no lights, poorly functioning brakes, and a good percentage without helmets. Most ride with the traffic flow but some go against it.
Pedestrians walking with the traffic flow are blind to what is coming up behind them and sidewalks are generally unusable due to the many parked bikes and cars blocking the way. Adding to this are large piles of odorous garbage which also force pedestrians to the roadway.
Tonight I found myself relying on a small but powerful LED flashlight which I flicked on while crossing the street, even going so far as to aim it at bikers who seemed intent on driving as close to me as they could. One rider came within striking distance as they appeared intent on parking their machine in the exact spot where I was standing. A lengthy string of curses was probably lost on the idiot but I think he got the message that I was less than impressed.
I recall that Italian cities were often risky for pedestrians but they didn’t come close to Lima, Peru which I had previously considered the top spot for kamikaze road crossing techniques. After today I’ve demoted them to number 2, with Siem Reap now being awarded the Golden Pisspot for scaring the piss out of visiting tourists. From what I understand, Phnom Penh will move to top spot once we arrive there on Saturday and checkout the motor madness of the Capital city..
Hopefully I can find a Buddhist monk to pray for my safety in the next few days.
I’ve got the last episode of Man in the High Tower lined up to go on Amazon TV once I get home and I’ll be bummed if I miss the end having met my own end in the streets of Siem Reap.🙄😝😝
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