The rising number of vehicles on Vientiane roads is causing increasing traffic congestion despite recent major road construction projects aimed at alleviating the problem.
Official figures put the current number of registered vehicles in Vientiane at about 409,000.
Of those, there are about 121,000 cars, trucks, and larger vehicles.
Head of Office of the Vientiane Traffic Police, Captain Viengxay Soutthiyanon said that an imbalance between the number of vehicles and accessibility of major arterial road in the capital was causing traffic congestion, particularly during morning and evening rush hours.
“The population of Vientiane is increasing fast and more and more families are purchasing vehicles, adding to the traffic problems in the city,” said Cpt. Viengxay.
Cpt. Viengxay said narrow roads are also a cause of traffic jams in the city, citing the example of the recently upgraded Phontong-Dongdok road which he said was still not wide enough to serve as a major transport route into the city.
Other causes of traffic jams are a lack of police presence at crucial intersections and motorists' disregard for road rules, according to Cpt. Viengxay.
“Drivers should respect the traffic regulations, drive in marked lanes, only park in allocated areas, and be considerate of others.”
Vientiane traffic police are concerned about the growing parking problems at places such as markets, banks and commercial zones, and are in discussions with the related sectors to find a solution to the issue.
“We recommend businesses such as major banks provide a separate parking area for their employees so that customers can park their cars outside the bank without disrupting traffic,” said Cpt. Viengxay.
He also suggested motorists commence their commute to work earlier than usual to avoid the morning peak hour rush.
Deputy Director of the Department of Public Works and Transports of Vientiane, Mr Chanxay Vinavong said the department and related units were discussing prospective solutions to the city's growing traffic problems.
“We are considering the construction of parking spaces; probably a large parking lot somewhere in the city centre where workers and the public can park their vehicles and then walk a short distance to their office or respective destination,” Mr Chanxay said.
Traffic officials have also called on businesses to ensure they consider parking spaces when they are constructing or expanding their offices.
many lao people begin to be rich, so they are proud and happy to show their success to everyone by driving big/luxury cars or pick-up (polluting, consuming lot of gas, causin lot of trafic jam and even sometimes dramatic accidents when they don't drive carrefully)
But the reality is that those cars are very convenient when you have a whole family to carry or many goods... but if you are alone, especialy in "warm weather contry", the motorbike (that most of lao people used to drive just a few years ago) is much more appropriate (for yourself and for others).
Look at the pick-ups in vientiane... very often, the only thing they carry is the driver!
How much time will new rich lao people will need to realise/undersantd that?
-- Edited by paris_vientiane on Tuesday 2nd of February 2010 06:15:05 PM
Yes those electrical wires are so low and have to be a very big concern. Anyway, do we have highway(s) system like US or China in Laos? Just wondering since I have never seen Laos yet.
