Enough is enough: An expat’s take on smoking while driving in Vietnam

The smoking debate around the world is one that started in a number of countries in the mid-1970s. Until then, smoking was seen as anything from sophisticated to a health benefit.

But we are a smarter world now, and we need to, as a community, call out practices that fail to make the community a better place.

Smoking in traffic and on motorbikes in Vietnam is one such issue that many complain about but very few actually discuss. From traffic lights in the city to car park entries, and even on river ferries, the act of smoking while riding has an awful impact on the people around the smoker, and in some cases, it's illegal.

Smoking while riding puts others at risk

The reduction of smoking has come a long way over the past decade or so.

Smoking rates in the community have plummeted, and, mostly in the cities, the community has adjusted by banning smoking in places that were once seen as acceptable. 

Cafes, hospitals, restaurants and offices were once deemed acceptable places to smoke in Vietnam. I recall, on my first visit in 2012, sitting on the local bus to Cu Chi while the man behind me smoked for the entire trip.

Fast forward to 2026 and attitudes have changed, but there is still a lingering apathy toward smoking while in control of a vehicle. It's dangerous, and it affects other road users, because that smoke gets into the noses and eyes of people in the vicinity of the smoker.

In the worst cases, places like the Cat Lai Ferry see riders using the river crossing as an opportunity to have a cigarette, simply because they're not riding at that moment. However, there are two key issues with this practice. 

Firstly, it's against the law, not to mention the danger of an open flame around so much fuel. 

Secondly, children and other passengers are confined to a small area with no possible means of escape, and are forced to inhale the smoke. I have been physically ill at times because of this.

The same goes for major traffic jams. You can't turn away or move because of the traffic, and a man lights up a cigarette beside you. He puffs on it, and the wind carries it straight into your face.

It's time to say no more.

Time for a change

As an expat and an ex-smoker, I am calling on the community to change this practice for the good of everyone. This is not a fight to remove the right to smoke, but simply a recognition that all people, smokers and non-smokers alike, dislike the feeling and smell of cigarette smoke in their face on a motorbike.

If smoking is important to commuters, they should do what many others already do for food and toilet stops: stop the motorbike, walk off the road, find an appropriate location, and partake in their desired practice. That is safe, and it is respectful.

My home country imposed smoking restrictions across the community decades ago. I do remember a time when, back home, you could smoke in these situations without any sanction. But the change came with resounding public support, and Australia was better for it.

Now that Vietnam is developing and becoming an icon in Southeast Asia, it's time to join the likes of other places, like Singapore, where only around 10.5 percent of adults smoke, according to The Tobacco Atlas. It’s also time to make smoking something that those who choose it can enjoy, without those who don't having to endure it.

And as a side note, my observation has been that many Western bars in Ho Chi Minh City have, over the past decade, voluntarily changed their smoking policies because customers have asked that smokers step outside or use a specific area that doesn't impact other patrons.

That's a good example of the expat community leading the way in respecting others, without reducing the choice of smokers.

I would be very happy to see laws passed that stamp out the practice of smoking on motorbikes. This may also extend, but the first step is to allow our children to commute without cigarette smoke harming their young bodies.

Despite more than a decade of tobacco control efforts, 20.8 percent of Vietnamese adults still smoke, including 41.1 percent of men, according to Vietnam's Ministry of Health.

Vietnam's Ministry of Health reported that more than 100,000 people die from tobacco-related illness in the country each year, around 84,500 from active smoking and roughly 18,800 from exposure to other people's smoke.

That second figure alone should be reason enough to take secondhand smoke on the road seriously.

Lastly, this discussion should extend to hotels and budget guesthouse rooms. While it happens out of the presence of others, smoking in these rooms leaves a sticky residue and smell that makes staying in them sickening at times.

I would like to see a total ban on smoking in these facilities, as smoking in the rooms has a lingering effect on the children and adults who use them for weeks and months afterward.

But most of all, just don't smoke. We are an intelligent enough society to know it kills you, and that it has absolutely no benefit to your health, wellbeing or lifestyle.

The entire foundation of smoking is that when you have it, you feel normal, and when you don't, you get withdrawal symptoms and feel terrible. Millions of ex-smokers, like me, know that you feel better without it.