At a yesterday meeting on speed adjustment on streets held by the Department of Transport, the Traffic Safety Steering Board in Ho Chi Minh City and Traffic Police, a representative from the Department of Transport said that the city had lifted speed limit in 12 roads including the section from the national highway No. 1 from Dong Nai Bridge to the border between the Mekong delta province of Long An, the national highway No.22 to the border of the southern province of Tay Ninh, from Cong Hoa Street to the highway No.1, Hanoi Highway, from Dien Bien Phu Bridge to Sai Gon Bridge, Dong Van Cong Street, Mai Chi Tho Street, Vo Van Kiet Street, Pham Van Dong Street, Nguyen Van Linh Street, Nguyen Huu Canh Street and Kinh Duong Vuong Street.
Accordingly, in 11 months of the year, traffic accidents soared, 3,609 accidents killed 749 people and injured 2,924 others, an increase of 217 cases compared to last year accounting for 6.4 percent, a surge of 107 dead people ( accounting for 16.6 percent) and a decrease of 75 injured people ( accounting for 2.5 percent).
The causes of traffic accidents include driving on wrong line, bad observation, speed violations, unsafe distance between vehicles.
Of 12 roads which a government decree allows high speed, nine of them had increased accidents, eight of them had more dead people because of accidents compared to same period last year. Especially, Hanoi highway, Vo Van Kiet and Pham Van Dong streets had seen more traffic accidents, more killed people and more injured people.
As a result, the Department of Transport proposed reducing speed in those roads with high rate of accidents. For instance, the department proposed reducing the speed on Hanoi highway, Vo Van Kiet and Pham Van Dong streets by 10km per hour. Similarly, the speed on national highways, Kinh Duong Vuong, Dong Van Cong, Mai Chi Tho, Nguyen Van Linh streets will be decreased by 10km per hour for motorbikes.
The Department urged warden police officers and people’s committees in districts to increase patrol to handle violations such as wrong line, wrong parking, driving after drinking alcoholic beverage or stimulants, aiming to reduce traffic accidents in the year-end and pave the way for the next year’s plan.
Additionally, the Traffic Safety Steering Board should increase the awareness of drivers of motorbikes, passenger coaches and heavy trucks
