The first quarter is the country’s peak festive season with many holidays and festivals. Travel and alcohol consumption demand is high.
Traffic safety and order has seen positive changes thanks to the government and related agencies’ desperate attempt. specifically, in the Luanr New Year, the number of traffic accidents has fallen by 10 percent in term of traffic accident cases, death toll and injury ratio compared to recent years.
However, Deputy Prime Minister Binh said that traffic accidents still occurred in some localities. Nineteen localities had high number of traffic accident dead toll in the first quarter; ten of them have seen 20 percent increase in traffic accident and serious cases have still taken place in the northern province of Vinh Phuc and the central province of Binh Dinh.
Serious traffic congestions still occur in big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Ordering traffic police force and related agencies to reduce traffic accidents in the second quarter and next time, Mr. Binh said these forces must be more determined to crack down alcohol- or drug-related traffic violations as well as cut down on fatal accidents caused by truck and passenger bus and injury cases caused by motorbike violators.
Deputy Chairman of the National Committee of Traffic Safety Khuat Viet Hung required at the meeting that lately relevant agencies and local administrations actively check drivers’ health condition of transportation companies countrywide.
Police force, the transportation sector and the health sector jointly have worked in bus stations to detect violators. 34 cities and provinces have handled 182 positive drug drivers; for instance, the northern province of Hai Duong discovered 48 drivers under the influence of banned substances or 0.01 percent of 3,596 drivers tested positive to these substances while HCMC detected 17 drug-drivers out of 644 ones.
Statistics have pointed out the culprit of 1,497 traffic accidents; of these 23.31 percent are caused by lane violations; 8.15 percent are caused by speeding ; 8.62 percent by careless drivers. Worse, 1.47 percent of accidents are caused by drunken drivers.
