The Cone of Awareness
Every puzzling aspect of Vietnamese driving can be explained by this one simply concept: If you can’t hit it, it doesn’t exist. Seriously, you’ll go crazy trying to keep track of everything that’s going on around you — so stop thinking like a stupid foreigner. All you have to worry about is what’s in front of you. If it’s outside your cone of awareness, then it’s not your problem.
I understand that this will be difficult for you. As a foreigner, you’ll want to know what’s coming up behind you before you go weaving across three lanes of busy traffic — but that is not how we do things in Saigon. Your notions of traffic safety mean nothing here, so you must learn to use the power of your cone.
Okay, now let’s see what it can do.
