The state decides the law, but people on the street have their own order. In the first nine months of 1988, the paper reports, Hanoi had 435 traffic accidents which killed 151 people and injured 36 others. The nationwide traffic toll for the same period was 3,146 accidents with 1,650 killed and 3,405 injured. The toll, which works out to nearly 35 deaths a year for each million people in Vietnam, seems low compared to the annual figure of almost 200 deaths per million people in the United States. But for Vietnamese, the numbers are sobering.
Results are uncertain at best.
Near the Dong Xuan market in northeast Hanoi, two policemen on foot patrol shoo a cluster of bread sellers off the street onto the narrow, crowded sidewalk. Hardly a minute later, after checking to be sure the officers are out of sight, the vendors reclaim their positions on the pavement.