Traffic patterns

My first impression of traffic in this city of 1 million people was summed up in one word: chaotic. Without following any particular lanes, motorbikes, SUVs and tuk-tuk crowd each other along the street. There are hundreds of thousands of motorbikes, interspersed with thousands of SUVs (relatively few sedans), tuk-tuk, and pedestrians in the street. (A tuk-tuk is a covered, open-sided carriage pulled by a motorbike and is the main means of paid public transportation—it can easily seat 4; and 6 passengers fit if you squeeze a bit.)

I have since learned that there is a definite pattern to what happens on the streets of Phnom Penh. The movement is kind of like a slow-motion dance. If you follow a couple of basic rules, you can merge into it quite well.

Normal Western rules-of-the-road are only followed in the most general sense. There are stop signs, but I have never seen anyone stop for one. There are so few traffic signals in the city, that city maps indicate every one of them. This means that every intersection has to be negotiated. But, to my surprise, it all seems to work very well, and I have yet to see an accident.

This morning I had an appointment out on a far corner of the city. That meant a half-hour ride in a tuk-tuk, so I again observed this “dance” from right in the middle of the “dance floor” since we took some of the busiest thoroughfares in the city.

The secret is that no one goes fast, so there is continual, gradual merging in lanes. At intersections, the heaviest flow of traffic seems to have the priority and everything – bikes, motorbikes, trucks, tuk-tuk – gets through at the same time. When crossing an intersection, you slowly merge your way into the center through this crossways flow until you get across. The same rule applies to pedestrians. You keep your eye on the oncoming flow of traffic and start walking slowly across it, being careful not to stop or make a sudden move. Everyone sees you and adjusts accordingly. If they are not going to let you go in front of them, they honk – and you’d better listen!

Traffic goes on the right side of the street, like in the US – usually. Several times I have found myself intently watching the arriving flow of traffic as I step out into the intersection and am startled by a motorbike that beeps because he cuts me off, coming the other direction! A couple of times my tuk-tuk driver has also taken the left lane in a divided street so he could turn left at the next intersection.

Pedestrians walk in the street along with the flow of vehicles. There are wide, tiled sidewalks along most major streets. However, they are rarely available to walk on. Whoever owns the building also owns the sidewalk in front of it. This means that he can set up his shop all the way out to the street or, more commonly, use it for parking. When walking, it is just easier to walk in the street rather than slalom through all these obstacles. I’ve also found, contrary to my intuition, that it is safer to walk along with the flow of traffic rather than facing it. Motorbikes are used to avoiding pedestrians in front of them, but they don’t seem to know what to do when they find you facing them.

I actually find all of this vaguely beautiful and very fascinating. And, yes!, it works!