Vietnam moves to keep the small-chested off the road

First, they came for the small-chested people… 

A ban on small-chested people riding motorbikes is just one of the novel criteria recently proposed by Vietnam’s Ministry of Health. People whose chests measure less than 28 inches would be prohibited under this new recommendation, as well as people who are too short or too thin. This proposal is meant to improve driver safety in Vietnam, which has one of the world’s highest road death tolls, presumably because waifish Vietnamese are at greater risk of sustaining serious injury when in a motorbike accident.

Despite being obviously insane, the Ministry of Health’s proposal could affect the travel plans of a large number of Vietnamese. Motorbikes make up 90% of the traffic on Vietnam’s roads. Many Vietnamese are naturally slight, and malnutrition often stunted the growth of those born during the Vietnam War. The affair has nevertheless been great fodder for Vietnamese bloggers. “From now on, padded bras will be bestsellers,” predicted Bo Cu Hung, a Ho Chi Minh City-based blogger.