Regarding the Oct. 8 article "Motorcycle makers battle it out in Vietnam": Indeed, the whole of Vietnam is now a traffic jam of honking cacophony. The makers have totally clogged the streets of Hanoi and Saigon, jam-packed the sidewalks and poisoned the air with millions of their machines. Kids risk their lives every time they venture outside. Hundreds of bikes will zip around an old lady trying to cross a street; not one will stop to give way. Clever advertising has young riders looking down on the few remaining nonpolluting cyclists.

If the makers truly wish to push growth for the next four to five years, their CEOs should be held liable for environmental damage. No developed country would permit the madness that has been created in Vietnamese cities.

Meanwhile, Cambodian cities are clogged with Japanese SUVs. Still, Japan dared boast about leading the world in fighting global warming at this past summer's summit of the Group of Eight developed nations.

pierre pariseau