Getting around Vietnam on a motorbike is tough enough when a driver gives it complete attention.
Officials figure that talking on a mobile phone at the same time is too much.
The Liberated Saigon newspaper reported Sunday that use of umbrellas on motorbikes also is being banned at the same time. Although traffic never makes it up to the speeds that are common in Western countries, an average of 10 people a day die on Vietnam's roads. A city police officer didn't have to leave court Monday to make an arrest. After a man was convicted and sentenced to one day in custody on a separate charge, the officer told him to empty his pockets before going to the cells. Police say the man was in possession of marijuana.