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Thinking of getting a 175cc+ motorcycle DL in Vietnam?
Vietnam recently decided to allow the general public to buy/operate and get
licensed to drive motorbikes with 175+ cc engine. Previously that category
was reserved for the police/armed forces.
A friend of mine just sat for the driver's license test, called the A2
class, and was surprised to be given the following question. Screenshot
attached. Rough translation below:
*Some of the admirable moral traditions of each Vietnam [who adheres] by
President Ho Chi Minh's thoughts are:*
1. Thrift: Means to work hard, diligently; to work with a plan, to be
creative with high productivity, in a self-reliant spirit, no laziness, no
dependence [? n?i - misspelled as ? l?i and d?a d?m both mean choosing to
be a dependent, a freerider]; saving labor, saving time, saving money for
the people, the country, for oneself, no wastes or excesses, no showing
off...
2. Integrity: means to not embezzle and always respect the properties of
the public and of the people; to be/have [proper, transparent, integrity];
to do the right things no matter how little; to not do any wrong things no
matter how minor.
Dear Anh,
What was the question? Was the applicant supposed to choose one of these
two virtues?
Regards, David Brown
If you look at the original, the word "la" (are) is followed by a question mark. But they are weird questions!
What is one supposed to answer? And what do "moral traditions" have to do with motorcycle riding?
Hue-Tam
My friend found this question shockingly inappropriate/irrelevant so took a
photo of it with his cellphone. The screenshot does not show what the
multiple answer choices were but my guess is that the correct answer would
be all of the above.
When this photo was posted on Facebook, a commenter sent a link to a
driver's license test question bank. There seems to be several other
questions that test the drivers on their moral aptitude to drive. It is
unclear whether HCM ever drove himself but may his deep thoughts be guiding
today's Vietnamese drivers on the socialist path. The country as you know
has very high traffic fatality rate.
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Others report that these indoctrinating questions are shared among the
tests for all driver classes so the main target for this specific question may
be commercial drivers well-known for siphoning off gasoline from their
truck to sell to small vendors then pocket the proceeds.
Anh Pham
Washington DC
Hi all,
I recently took the driving licence test (for car, not motorbike) and lots
of questions were about morality and very technical details, which clearly
don't apply to civilian drivers. The instructor explained that not too long
ago, it took 2 years to learn driving, and learners must master not only
the art of driving (especially in Hanoi or HCMC) itself but also the
mechanism, different parts of a car and how to fix minor problems. Driving
class was considered vocational training rather than for personal purposes.
I think the same idea can illuminate many people's amusement with this type
of question on a driving test. Keep in mind that cars as personal
possession is a relatively new phenomenon in Vietnam, so probably for those
who once designed the test, they had in mind drivers as state workers who
drive for a living.
And it goes without saying that if your wage is paid by the state, you must
master Ho Chi Minh's moral thoughts.
All the best,
Van
MA Sociology - Western University, Canada
Thank you, Van. Your explanation sounds quite reasonable. Could it be that questions applicable to
car driving were used for motorbike license exams as well? Who is likely to ride a motorbike,
the owner or an employee?
incidentally, is it my imagination or has the number of xe om dwindled with the increase in taxis?
Hue Tam Ho Tai
Dear Hue Tam,
Many of the cyclo drivers who became my friends in the early and mid 1990s eventually became xe om drivers and the ones I am still in touch with are now taxi drivers.
cheers
Michele
Dear co Hue Tam and all,
I believe the tests for all types of vehicles more or less draw from the
same question bank, which probably hasn't been updated for many years. Test
for motorbike drivers and test for car drivers differ in number of
questions, not content (except for some very specific questions that can
only apply to one vehicle and not the other).
Instructors often teach test-takers tricks to pass the test, which include
not only driving skills and moral principles, but also to questions on
traffic law, especially road signs.
And on the last round of my car driving license test, everyone was asked to
drive a distance of about 200m on an empty road, and contribute 100.000 VND
to a collective bribe tuck behind the seat. As far as I know, this is an
unspoken rule all test takers are aware of.
All the best,
Van
MA Sociology - Western University, Canada
Thank you again, Van.
I am always amazed at Vietnamese drivers to drive within an inch of other vehicles without getting into an accident, but at the same time I am amazed at people's lack of respect for rules of the road and for policemen's arbitrary enforcement of the rules. A friend of mine who was driving on a highway, overshot the exit; she just backed up until she got to the exit. On the side of the road were policemen who looked on without bestirring themselves. Luckily, there were no other cars on the highway. In the US, even without other cars, I doubt drivers would have backed up on a highway. During that same trip, I observed a women being stopped in Hanoi for not wearing a helmet. She was part of a large crowd.
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Kenneth T. Young Professor
of Sino-Vietnamese History
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