The rapid increase in the number of motorbikes and cars in recent years has put a great pressure on traffic in major cities. It is easy to blame these vehicles for traffic congestion. However, no road users think of their own behaviours.

A dozen years ago, the three-wheeled taxi was banned from operating on the road because it was said to cause air pollution, traffic jams and traffic accidents. However, after the three-wheeled taxi disappeared for many years, the number of traffic accidents kept increasing, and traffic congestion and air pollution became more serious, making even male road users wear masks. Currently, many people mention the three-wheel taxi as a solution to develop public transport.

Public transport reminds us of a public bus. Five years ago, public buses were considered the prioritised solution against traffic congestion. The Government allocated some thousands of billions of Vietnam Dong to subsidise bus companies. However, recently Ho Chi Minh City has made great efforts to reduce 300 bus trips a day and Hanoi has begun to mention reducing bus trips.

What a vicious circle! However, it isn’t a surprise if we put public buses in the general setting of Vietnam’s transportation. Measures against traffic congestion has caused confusion. Some one-way roads have changed to two-way, and then back to one-way in some years. However, traffic congestion has remained. At some intersections, road users were allowed to turn right when the light was red but even when it was not. As a result, the number of lawbreakers increased suddenly. However, later, they were allowed to turn right. As a habit, some road users stood waiting until the sound of the horn behind.

The vicious circle of measures against traffic congestion reached its climax in 2003 when the blame was shifted to motorbikes. New motorbikes were not allowed to register. Responsible people even thought of a solution to allow motorbikes with even number plates to go on even dates and vice versa. However, this solution was cancelled because it was opposed by public opinion. Currently because traffic congestion has become so serious and it has become urgent to find a feasible solution, the “even and uneven initiative” was proposed again. Such an illusive proposal, of course, can’t be realised. However, it shows that the inertia in our thinking is more serious than traffic congestion.

The inertia in thinking is the problem of not only strategists, but also road users. Motor industry development has increased traffic congestion worldwide. However, traffic congestion in other cities, for example, Bangkok and Singapore can be controlled. There, vehicles follow one another in order. Meanwhile in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, it is chaos where all types of vehicles jostle forward, and the concept of “road lane” becomes meaningless. This is not traffic congestion, but the inertia in thinking of road users.

Inertia in thinking is the cause of many other jams. For example, parents try to select a school for their children. If they had not done so, the children in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh would walk to the nearest school. If necessary, three buses could pick up and return students of the entire primary school. Then their parents would not need to overcrowd the school to pick them up and upper secondary school, children would not need to press their parents to the purchase of a motorbike. This lack of foresight prevents people from realising this.