Danger lurks at the roundabout at the gateway to Saigon

The risk of accidents is always lurking when motorcyclists have to squeeze between the blind spots of trucks and containers continuously passing through My Thuy roundabout, Thu Duc City every day.

Uncertainty at the 'death' roundabout in Saigon

Motorbikes weave through the blind spot of a tractor-trailer at My Thuy roundabout. Video : Dinh Van

On the morning of June 21, Mr. Nguyen Minh Hoang, 31 years old, was riding his motorbike on Dong Van Cong Street to his company in Cat Lai urban area. As he had just started to enter the small island around the bridge pillar in the roundabout, a tractor trailer carrying two 20-foot cargo containers was turning to get onto Phu My Bridge, honking its horn repeatedly, scaring him into stopping. The cargo container was only about a meter away from the front of his motorbike. Beside him, dozens of other motorbikes were also weaving between the two lines of trucks and containers.

"Sometimes I saw the trailer's wheel hit the fender of the motorbike of the person standing next to me because it was in a blind spot," said Mr. Hoang.

Similarly, at the end of the work day, he has to try to drive very slowly, slowly observing to avoid large trucks from Vo Chi Cong Street going up to Phu My Bridge. After 7 years on the route from his home on Mai Chi Tho Street to his workplace near Cat Lai Port, he said he has become accustomed to the heavy traffic, the loud honking of cars, or the collisions and accidents at this "death" roundabout.

A motorbike was blocked between two container trucks when passing through My Thuy roundabout. Photo: Dinh Van

Because it is the intersection of nearly ten ports from Thu Duc City to District 7, including the largest port in the country, Cat Lai, the number of trucks carrying goods through My Thuy roundabout is very large. According to statistics, every day, nearly 20,000 tractor-trailers pass through this intersection, but there are still no separate lanes. Motorbikes and cars have to jostle when entering the roundabout.

My Thuy is also one of the "black spots" of traffic accidents in Ho Chi Minh City for many years that the authorities have not been able to eliminate. Many fatal accidents have occurred at this "death" roundabout. Last week, a 38-year-old female worker and her daughter were riding a motorbike when they were caught under a container truck and died on the spot as soon as they entered the roundabout.

Late last year, two men riding a motorbike got caught in the side of a tractor-trailer turning at a roundabout and were run over and killed. Before that, a person also died at this location when it collided with a truck. In 2020-2021, traffic was restricted due to the pandemic, and many accidents also occurred in this area, killing 3 people.

A mother and her child were trapped under a trailer in an accident at My Thuy roundabout, Thu Duc City, on June 12. Photo: Minh Dang

Having worked at the My Thuy roundabout for more than 15 years, 46-year-old Nguyen Van Toan said he was used to seeing accidents in the area. In recent years, the My Thuy underpass was inaugurated and a series of warning signs were installed along the road, which helped reduce the number of accidents, but the danger still lurks.

He said that at night, motorbikes often collide with the concrete blocks placed around the roundabout because they are not painted with reflective paint. In addition, the bridge surface above the roundabout blocks the light from the electric poles, while there are no lights under the bridge, so the road surface at the roundabout is very dark.

"Every few months, we see a tragic accident," said Mr. Toan, adding that he often witnessed tractor-trailers going downhill at the foot of Phu My bridge having to brake suddenly to avoid motorbikes rushing from the roundabout towards Cat Lai port, with a very high risk of an accident.

Motorbikes jostle each other moving through My Thuy roundabout at night next to a line of tractor trailers. Photo: Dinh Van

A leader of the Cat Lai Traffic Police Team said that accidents often occur at this roundabout because motorbikes fall into the blind spot of the trailer. When this large cargo vehicle turns right at the intersection or hugs the roundabout, there will be 4 hidden spaces on both sides, the front of the vehicle and the rear of the trailer.

When falling into these spots, the driver of the truck cannot recognize from the cabin to avoid the motorbike. In addition, motorcyclists coming to this area often change direction and lane without observing. Many people even often run red lights, while at night trucks and tractors have the habit of going faster than normal to meet orders. "In 30 minutes of patrol each night, the unit may have to make a record of more than a dozen cases of the above violations," said the team leader.

To remove My Thuy intersection from the list of black spots for accidents, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport recently proposed 7 solutions including: installing propaganda banners, adjusting the traffic light system, painting speed-reducing paint lines evenly on the bridge, Dong Van Cong, Nguyen Thi Dinh and Vo Chi Cong streets, increasing reflectors on the islets around the bridge piers in the roundabout and adding lighting under the bridge...

Dinh Van

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