So, last week I complained about Chicago Tribune's Dahleen Glanton and her awful article about Vietnam.
Today I see she's got another article on Vietnam, and once again it's pushing my buttons.  So I'm going to complain about it again.

If you think Chicago traffic is bad, try motorbike-clogged Ho Chi Minh City

Now, she's not actually wrong on her main point.  The traffic congestion in Ho Chi Minh City is a problem.  But then she manages to mangle just about all of her details.

Her biggest problem is exaggeration.  Yes, some people do run red lights in Saigon.  Yes, some people do drive on the wrong side of the road.  But the majority of motorists actually follow the traffic rules.
For comparisons sake, it's much better than Phnom Penh.  One of the first things I noticed surprised by when I first came to Saigon from Phnom Penh was that the majority of vehicles in Saigon actually stop at the red lights (unlike Phnom Penh).

So Dahleen Glanton is completely wrong when she writes things like:

Of course, there are rules of the road. But in Vietnam, they clearly are meant to be broken. There are plenty of lawbreakers behind the wheel in Chicago, too, but in Saigon it's harder to find anyone who actually follows the law.

Complete exaggeration.  As is:

By the way, everyone ignores one-way street signs. There's no right side or wrong side of the road, so a motorbike could be gaining on you from either direction, even on the shoulders.

Some people definitely ignore those one-way signs in Saigon, but everyone?  It's not everyone by a long shot.  The majority of motorbikes actually go the direction their supposed to go in Saigon.  She also doesn't understand how the traffic lights work here.

A red light, for instance, does not necessarily mean stop. It's merely a suggestion. It doesn't even mean you have to slow down, as long as the driver in front of you is still moving. What it does seem to mean is that you get to stay with the flow of traffic, even though it's not actually flowing.

The majority of the Vietnamese actually stop at red lights in Saigon.  When they don't stop at red lights, it's usually because there's no traffic at the intersection.
In many countries of the world (not only Vietnam), the unwritten convention regarding traffic signals is different than it is in America.  In America, a red light means you have stop no matter what.  In many other countries, however, it is assumed that a red light means that you have to yield to any traffic going the other way, but that you can continue if the intersection is clear.
It's a cultural difference.  It's not a sign that the Vietnamese are crazy drivers or that they don't know how to follow the rules.

My next issue with Dahleen Glanton is that she has a very poor idea of what causes the traffic congestion.

In Vietnam, cars are way too expensive for most people to own. The government adds exorbitant taxes and fees to the price of a new car, meaning a Toyota Camry that costs about $23,000 in the U.S. would skyrocket to about $60,000 in Vietnam. A motorbike on the other hand can cost as little as $200.
That makes motorbikes the vehicle of choice for just about everyone. And there lies the problem in a city of 9 million people.

And there lies the problem?  No, she completely missed the point here.  The fact that the government deliberately taxes cars out of the price range of most Vietnamese people is not the problem.  That's the solution!  That's why there are 7 million small motorbikes on the road in Saigon instead of 7 million cars.
Each motorbike occupies a much smaller space on the road than a car would.  (And in Vietnam, as in most of Asia, the roads here are much smaller than the American roads). And so consequently the traffic problem in Saigon is ameliorated somewhat by deliberately limiting the number of cars on the road.

And then finally, there's also this ignorant little bit:

Now another interesting area involves appropriate motorbike wear. Men, it seems, can get away with anything. But women have to be careful. It's OK to drive your motorbike wearing high heels and pencil skirts. Comfort has nothing to do with efficiency. The most important thing, though, is to make sure that no skin is showing. Even in 90-degree heat, long-sleeved tops, jackets, gloves, socks, scarves, hats and a mask that covers everything but your eyes are must-haves for the modern motor-biking woman. That's in order to protect the skin from sun.
In Vietnam, I'm told, a woman's beauty is determined by the lightness of her skin. Therefore, a woman's body must be shielded from the sun at all costs. On the beaches in Vietnam, the locals come out in droves after sundown.

Ah gee, people in a tropical climate avoid the sun during the daytime.  Imagine that.  How strange these Vietnamese are!

This is difficult for people from the Northern Hemisphere to understand, but people who live in the tropics have a different relationship to the sun than we do.
I know this from experience, because my first year in the tropics it was difficult for me to understand.
I remember during my first year here, I was on a road trip through Malaysia with some Malaysian friends.  As we got near the beach, and saw how beautiful the ocean looked, one Malaysian friend said, "If it's not too hot this afternoon, let's go swimming."
I was from Michigan, so this surprised me of course.  In Michigan, when it's hot out is the perfect time to go swimming. But in Malaysia (and Vietnam) during the heat of the day you can still feel the sun scorching down on you whether you're in the water or not.
Over here, the (relative) cool of the evening is the best time to go swimming.

Dig it!  The sun in this area of the world does not mess around.  When you see the locals covering up their skin, it's for good reason.  And it's for reasons other than pure vanity.  Covering up from the sun can actually make you feel cooler than leaving your bare skin exposed to the rays.

Dahleen Glanton apparently notice this, but a lot of the men will also cover up their skin