Pages

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Street Scenes of People Riding Motorbikes in Phnom Penh

The busy streets of central Phnom Penh present an excellent opportunity to see people going about their daily lives in Cambodia's largest city. In that spirit, I will share several posts with photos of people riding some of the vehicles common there such as motorbikes, bicycles, and rickshaws.

In this post, I will share the photos of people riding motorbikes. The photos not only capture people on the go, but the life and scenery around them. You may want to focus on the motorbikes, the styles of clothing worn by people, the number of people riding a vehicle, who is and who is not wearing helmets, the architectural styles of the surrounding buildings, the activities of people on the street side, and so on. There's much to discover in these scenes, and they provide a striking contrast to those I've recently shared from Cambodia's countryside here and here.

two men and a boy riding a motorbike by a market

young woman with an angry birds bag on a motorbike

men sitting on motorbikes at the roadside

man and four children on a motorbike

young woman with dyed hair on a motorbike

man, woman, and three children on a motorbike

young fashionable couple on a motorbike

man on a motorbike

young man and young woman on a motorbike

man with four children on a motorbike

monk as a passenger on a motorbike

several motorbikes driving next to a car

two men on a motorbike

woman stopped on her motorbike

small girl sitting on a motorback and holding the waist of the driver

2 comments:

  1. I wonder what the thought process is that the driver is wearing a helmet in some cases, but not the passengers--often children. So the driver is protected if there's an accident but not the children/passengers. Hmm?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That seems to be common practice in Phnom Penh. I'm not sure what drives the behavior, but some possible factors include (and are not limited to):
      1. In some other places I've been told that helmet laws (or enforcement of them) only apply to drivers. I'm not sure if that is true in Phnom Penh though.
      2. Kids grow and would occasionally need new helmets.
      3. Motorbike "taxis" are common in Phnom Penh. Given the amount of driving they do, they may feel more compelled to invest in (and wear) a helmet for themselves.

      Delete