Updated fines – 2025.
Contents
Police do not target foreigners, but they will stop you if you have done something wrong. The most common way for Tigit customers to get stopped is through speeding.
We also recommend you read our page in detail about licenses and international drivers permits.
- Riding on an express way (CT ROAD) – $300-$300
- Being involved in a traffic accident and then fleeing the scene – $300-$400
- Driving the wrong way up the road – $150-$240
- Exceeding the speed limit by more than 20km/h – $240-$300
- Driving on the road with 0.2 to 0.4 mg of alcohol – $240 – $300
- Driving on the road with 0.4mg of alcohol – $300 – $300
- Failure to comply with traffic lights – $150-$240You can scroll through them left to right by clicking the arrow.
Vietnam traffic fines and laws 2025
Vietnam is a country where laws are generally treated as “guidelines.” To really understand which rules to follow and which rules to ignore, one must have lived in Vietnam for many years. Not very helpful for a tourist!
While it is still very much the case that most traffic laws in Vietnam remain “guidelines,” they are getting stricter and, unfortunately, more random about enforcing them.
In 2025, Vietnam increased the fines, which caused internal rioting in the country. People are not happy. It also increases the flexibility of police corruption and unfair fines. It is all part of the game here.
Due to the fines increasing to rather high levels, it is worth being aware of them and their costs.
You must also be aware, though, that just because you have read the rules and intend to follow them, A lot of the rules don’t make sense in Vietnam. So, there is a real chance you will accidentally violate some laws. Therefore, you should budget some law-breaking finances into your holiday budget.
How much are fines/coffee money in the real world?
How much “coffee money” to pay a policeman varies widely. Factors include:
- What rule you broke?
- Did you break the rule by a little or a lot?
- What kind of bike were you driving?
- The area of the country you were stopped in.
- The amount of time you are willing to spend negotiating and time-wasting.
- Your overall confidence and persona in the way you deal with the situation.
To cut a long story short, the average amount of coffee money to pay is 1 million to 1.5 million dong. This is roughly 50 USD to 65 USD.
The days of 200k to 500k numbers (10 USD to 15 USD) are long gone. You might still find these numbers on the internet, but offering up such small amounts can actually worsen the situation.
You don’t have the correct paperwork
At the beginning of this article, we talk about Vietnam’s laws that don’t make any sense, and therefore, no one cares about them.
This couldn’t be more true when it comes to paperwork. In the real world, there is a mountain of papers you should be carrying with you on the motorbike. The paperwork list is so complicated that no one will be carrying the correct paperwork.
Even the locals will get themselves “as close as possible” to what is correct.
In nearly all cases of police stops, locals or foreigners, the police will be able to pinpoint a paperwork error. In reality, they will only use this error to scare you, but behind the scenes, they are just stopping you because you made a mistake such as speeding, not because of a paperwork issue.
They will suggest that the situation is much worse because you are missing certain papers, but don’t worry about it and just ignore this line of inquiry.
The paperwork errors you will likely be facing are:
- Blue card copy not the real blue card
- Lack of yellow insurance paper
- Your real name doesn’t match the blue card
- Your IDP might be the wrong version
This is just some of a complicated list of potential issues they may attempt to scare you with.
Tigit is very happy to provide a picture of the real blue card if the police choose to take this line of inquiry. However, we know that this really isn’t important to them, and it does not change the final outcome of the negotiation.
Stay calm, stay strong, and be polite, and they will eventually let you go with some reasonable coffee money. (Providing the reason they stopped you wasn’t for a major law infraction.).
Traffic cameras
Traffic cameras have increasingly become problematic for Tigit. The fines can take up to six months to be given to us. At this point, the driver has left Vietnam and is back to real life. We will reach out and send the client involved an email and ask them to pay. Most clients are honest and pay for the fines. (happy to say).
It should be noted that the system to pay fines in Vietnam still does not make any sense (I have a video on the topic). Whilst we currently do not charge customers for the time it takes us to process a fine, it would be nice if tourists understand and respect the complexities that we have to go through.
How to avoid traffic cameras
Most traffic cameras are found on the major highways. Primarily, where tourists get caught is the AH1 along the coastline that runs the entire length of the country. This road is dangerous to drive, and no routes on the Tigit site recommend it. You shouldn’t be on the road in the first place, but if you find yourself on it, keep to the speed limit!
Another keen trick is to drive through some mud and then forget to clean your number plate. You didn’t hear that from us! The locals do it all the time.
What are the road speed limits?
The mobile app “Waze,” which is powered by Google, is a great alternative to Google maps. It provides its best guesses at knowing the speed limits which can be extremely useful. You can’t take what it says as fact, but in general, it is better than nothing!
Ultimately, though, it is tough to know what the speed limits are in Vietnam. They change all the time depending on if it is a town, or an empty straight. The signposts are often hidden or small, and they don’t repeat. The police tend to hang out on empty roads that are still considered “towns.” You might see a nice long and empty stretch of road with no danger, only to later find out the speed limit was a measly 40km/h. The best thing you can do is not go above 60km/h unless you are very confident that the police are not around. In busy areas, do not go over 50km/h
Keep an eye out for long, empty stretches of roads after just leaving a small town. Don’t assume the speed has increased from the town section. Also, keep a keen eye for long, gradual downhill sections. A downhill will knock the average person over the speed limit. The police know this, and it is one of their favorite hideout spots!
What can you do about the police
The best advice I can give is to drive sensibly. If you are a confident driver, the police are very unlikely to stop you, even if you are speeding. Remember, Vietnam is a motorbike country, and to the trained eye (police), it is very easy to see who has skills on a motorcycle and who does not. The police will not target talented riders who are mildly breaking speed limits.
They will, however, hammer the wobbly backpacker, driving erratically and inconsistently. They see straight through your lack of experience, and you will get stopped.
I also recommend just keeping it real; the speed limits in Vietnam are very slow. If you are a speed merchant, just don’t come here. The driving quality of locals is very low, and people are not expecting fast-moving vehicles. Always be cautious when it comes to speed, and don’t be in a rush. Leave plenty of time for your day’s drive, and don’t feel like you need to be speeding to reach your destination.
If you are wearing a GoPro or other such action camera and you are mildly breaking the speed limit, the police are likely to let you go. They do not want to be caught on camera taking bribes. However, if you are breaking the speed limit by a lot, they will forcefully make you turn the camera off, and they will threaten you with real paperwork and bike confiscation.
Corruption and bribery work in weird and wonderful ways. I can’t explain it. But basically, if the fine is small and an action camera is present, they will likely wave you on. If you are breaking the law by a serious amount, they will stand up to you, make you turn off the camera, threaten you with paperwork, and ultimately get some money out of you!
What to do about red traffic lights
Motorbikes can turn right at red traffic lights if there is a light to display a right turn; this is important to understand. Beyond that, there is an unwritten rule in Vietnam about which red lights you can break and which red lights you can drive through. It is very common to see locals driving through red lights!
There is no way a tourist will ever figure out the local system of which lights are ok and which are not. Don’t try to figure it out, and don’t try to copy the locals when they break a red light.
Final thoughts
In particular, in 2025, there have been many rule changes and chitter-chatter going around the internet, both for tourists and locals. In reality, though, most of the new laws are farfetched and unrealistic to be enforced properly. This situation is very common in Vietnam, where the country might try to copy “Western ideologies,” but in the end, it has no chance of doing so. The computer systems are not in place, the physical systems and framework are not in place, and the corruption is out of control. Usually there is a couple of months of increased action by local law enforcement. But it quickly dies out and goes back to the way it was.
I call these circles “Temporary Vietnamese campaigns.” I am very used to it, having run a business here for so long.
In reality, when real changes occur, they usually happen quietly, and they go under the radar without anyone noticing. For 2025, traffic laws have been very noisy, and if you are concerned about the noise on places like Facebook and Reddit, be rest assured that, in reality, nothing has really changed!
Hurray for Vietnam!