Refusing to accept speeding drivers on our street

 I've adjusted as well as can be expected to the weather here. The heat and humidity are excruciating, but I'm coping by getting up early in the morning when it's coolest, staying inside and occasionally napping during the heat of the day (10:30 to 3 p.m.), and spending time outside before dinner, and sometimes after dinner.
   There are some interesting meals in Vietnam, and generally the food is OK; there are more choices now than when I first moved here, even if fresh fruit like blueberries can cost $5 for a small plastic tub and strawberries can fetch a whopping $12 for 12 berries in the specialty stores.
    I've even accepted line cutting to small degree if I'm buying a ton of stuff and the cutter has one or two items. Generally, I'll be proactive in those instances and invite the would-be cutter to go ahead of me.
   So while we wait for a final ruling from the USCIS on our efforts to get a visa for my wife to enter the U.S. and get our daughter into a decent school there, I consider all contingencies. If we get rejected, could I play out the end game in Vietnam? Well, if we could find an acceptable school for our children, perhaps. I guess I'm trying to point out that even with the many differences between life in Vietnam and life in the United States, I've adapted to most aspects of life here (gradually). There are so many wonderful people in Vietnam.
   But there's one aspect of life here that I refuse to accept and never will: when people ride their motorbikes or cars at high rates of speed down our narrow street, often in excess of 100 kmh, and neighbors and pedestrians look away and pretend it's not happening. When I yell at the speeders to slow down -- and I have to yell because they're going too fast and their bikes are too noisy for the folks to absorb a polite "excuse me" -- the stoics/neighbors will look at me like I'm crazy or out of line, either rolling their eyes or trying to give me the ice stare. One guy asked me sarcastically: "You police the street?" I answered yes because I have two young children who don't understand that many vehicles won't stop or slow down for them when they walk or run in the street. The drivers will use horns constantly but won't slow down.
   The sidewalks have plants, chairs, motorbikes, and assorted junk on them, so the streets are the only option when we walk to the little market around the corner, or anywhere else for that matter. Lots of folks drive big SUVs here, and they can fill up the street. Bikes will race around them if the SUVs aren't speeding, and they can unexpectedly appear around a vehicle in our walking path. They won't stop or slow down but swerve and skim past us. That's why I've been hit about six or seven times -- four on the sidewalk -- and my daughter has had way too many close calls, and she's been hit twice on the sidewalk. I use a walking stick to alleviate back pain, and also to keep vehicles at bay. When people cross busy streets here they hold up their hands so they're seen. I've held up my walking stick in the white-striped pedestrian zone while holding my daughter's hand and some riders have refused to slow down or stop and they've come so close to me they've hit their heads on the stick. It happened twice last week, and a delivery bike driver hit my stick, which was in a vertical position at my side. All three "victims" glared and stared and shouted something or other at me, but, of course, they didn't slow down and continued on their way.
  Admittedly, I've made a lifetime of stupid decisions and choices that have cost me dearly. But being proactive to try to slow down speeding, reckless and arrogant drivers for the sake and safety of my kids and other pedestrians, isn't one of them. I don't want a confrontation, but I expect human decency and civility. And on a happy note, lots of teens and other regulars on our street have slowed down. Like I said earlier, there are so many wonderful people in Vietnam.