Sharing our roads - follow the Cambodians?

Happy Khmer New Year! No ropey resolutions or blighting of Burns. In their place, bathing buddas and bolting back to your birthplace.

The water blessings I can handle - even if it's just ritual soaking of passers-by. The exodus from cities to the countryside may seem a more useful demonstration of devotion, but it is sadly also more of a problem.

Phnom Penh is the centre of the chaos as its residents return to their roots. And whilst new year is particularly bad, the chaos now just highlights underlying problems in the city's tenuous transport infrastructure.

Here’s the deal. You have a potentially beautiful city – maybe not the Paris of the east, but the riverfront view is reletively unimpeded, and narrow streets of pleasantly crumbing colonial mansions still lead to impressive tree-lined boulevards.

Then you ruin it by failing to provide any public transport. That’s right, nothing. Ot. No trains, trams or local busses here, or indeed in the entire country - can you imagine? This is not a uniquely impoverished place - in fact it is getting rapidly, visibly richer - yet can there be any capital city with such a poor travel networks? A few roads and no system, so unregulated traffic randomly clogs the streets of this potentially fine metropolis.

The problem is obvious – there is no planning, and no rules. In fact there is no law – or rather, it’s the law of the jungle, that most base, uncivilized of approaches, ‘might is right’.

To start at the bottom, Cambodians think you’re crazy if you choose to go by foot – walking is only for those too poor to travel any other way. Pedestrians have no rights, forced to choose between perilous roads, deathtrap gutters or car and moto-clogged sidewalks. Only tossers of the highest order park cars on pavements; sadly, Phnom Penh has multitudes of major culprits. Oh for some traffic wardens!

Cyclists fare little better. “Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race” said H. G. Wells. There is some celebrating to be done here – the flat roads are perfect for cycling and there are still plenty around. But sadly the bike also remains a sign of poverty and weakness; there are no cycle lanes, no recognition of the economic or environmental magic of the bicycle. Even the wizened cyclo drivers seem downtrodden these days, though their size and solidity moves them slightly up the hierarchy.

Motos are traffic’s middle class - across Asia motorbikes are the transport of choice. Zipping around on efficient Honda Dream ‘plastic ponies’ makes a lot of sense. Swerving at speed, cutting corners, jumping lights, riding on the wrong side, or even on the pavement - less so. Doing so wearing just shorts and flipflops, your entire family, kitchen sink and farmyard on the back, all whilst texting with one hand and holding your helmet with the other - not sensible at all.

And then come the real bullies – cars, tankers, coaches, the bigger the better. Driving skills are minimal, as tests are not passed but ’bought’ for a $20 bribe. There’s pushing in, pulling out, everything from the discourteous to the downright dangerous. Depressingly, driving a Lexus has become the pinnacle of ambition. To our shame, rather than challenge this, international NGOs actively fuel the trade with fleets of four-by-fours. (Note: one organisation bucks the trend by providing a flotilla of rickety city bikes – good on you VSO!).

Pleasingly there is one exception to the might is right principle. At the very top of the power pyramid, undisputed kings of the roads surrounding the city, are… cows! I love it – they just amble across at their leisure and undaunted by even the meanest of motors. It’s a small but sweet victory.

In fact, now I’ve had my moment of road rage, I can sense a few more positives on Cambodia’s roads. Perhaps it’s not as chaotic as it initially seems. There may be no rules, but there are ‘conventions’ - it’s just that they are different, less rigid than other cities.

In particular, Cambodians’ easygoing, adaptable and gentle approach to life is very much reflected on their roads. Traffic generally flows at a sedate pace. The odd idiot drives fast, but even your average Lexus-lout takes it easy in town. There is little urgency in Cambodian life, and happily this is usually reflected in the driving.

And Cambodian adaptability translates into a fluidity of moment on the roads. Everyone keeps moving all the time, limiting opportunities to fume in gridlock. Even traffic lights are less stressful here, with a great countdown system so you know exactly when you’ll move - definitely a lesson for other cities.

The gentleness is also important – in traffic as in life people avoid conflict. This is also pragmatic: accidents are costly, more so if police are involved. Few have insurance, so you go out of your way to avoid crashes. (There are still plenty, but due to incompetence not inhumanity).

I was recently knocked off my bike in Phnom Penh by a moto cutting the corner on the wrong side of the road. We were both fine and there was only minor damage, so we just picked up, dusted down, and set off. What a welcome contrast to many western cities where pleasant people become angry monsters on ignition of car engines, and crashes lead to fury and stress, not to mention months of wrangling and paperwork.

In fact, now I’ve got the western road rage out of my system, maybe we could even make some Khmer new year's resolutions - not only to keep in touch with our familites more, but even to learn from the Cambodian approach to sharing our roads?