Rural traffic safety warning

(Baonghean) - Rural transport is an essential infrastructure system connecting rural areas with the national highway system, provincial roads, urban areas, economic zones; promoting socio-economic development in rural areas of our province. The current concern is the lack of traffic safety in rural areas...

Infrastructure shortcomings

Nghe An's rural road network currently accounts for over 70% of the total length of the province's road network. Of which, district roads have a total length of 378.4km; commune roads currently have 11,882.5km; urban roads have 633.1km; specialized roads: 372km; 25 ferry terminals; there are 1,325 large and small bridges on district and commune roads. The construction of Nghe An's rural road network is increasingly developing. From 2010 to now, the length of rural roads has increased by 3,172km; 242 large and small bridges on district and commune roads have been newly built... However, according to the assessment of the Provincial Traffic Safety Committee, rural roads have the lowest technical grade; the roads are narrow, run in two directions and have no separation between the two directions; the permitted speed is low; the signaling system is inadequate, visibility is limited in many sections; the road surface quality is poor...

Traffic chaos in hamlet 5, Xuan Hoa commune (Nam Dan).

Mr. Vo Minh Duc - Chief of Office of Provincial Traffic Safety Committee said: Rural roads are increasingly concreted but there is almost no auxiliary equipment, because most of the funding for upgrading these roads is often mobilized and donated, so the main focus is only on the roadbed, leading to intersections, market places, and places with obstructed vision having no warning signs, and sections passing through dangerous areas also have no guardrails. Meanwhile, in recent years, due to improved living conditions, the number of vehicles in rural areas has increased rapidly, especially motorbikes and small trucks.

In the first 6 months of 2016 alone, Nghe An registered 6,290 new cars, 67,801 motorbikes and 16,745 electric motorbikes. The rapid increase in the number of vehicles while the traffic infrastructure is still inadequate has led to the situation of traffic accidents in rural areas becoming more and more complicated and tending to increase.

People dry rice on National Highway 46B through Hung Tay Commune (Hung Nguyen). Photo: Thanh Cuong

As a person who has participated in handling traffic accidents in rural areas, Mr. Vu Dinh Can - Head of the Tang Thanh Commune Police (Yen Thanh) said: In the process of building new rural areas, the traffic routes in the commune have been basically "hardened". On inter-commune roads, along with cars, motorbikes, and rudimentary vehicles, many people participate in traffic, while trees planted by people encroaching on traffic safety corridors have not been completely handled, rural roads have no sidewalks; there are no restriction signs, no traffic lights at intersections... are the main causes leading to accidents. In Tang Thanh commune, since the expansion of Highway 534 running through the area, at intersections, accidents often occur between motorbikes coming from the village road and cars running on this main road.

Cognitive limitations

It can be seen that the main reasons for the increase in rural traffic accidents in recent times are that the road surface in rural areas has improved after being upgraded, so vehicles are moving faster, but the road width is still narrow, visibility is limited, and there are no signs, so collisions are likely to occur. In addition, the knowledge of traffic laws of traffic participants in this area is limited. Meanwhile, the patrol and traffic control forces on rural roads are lacking and thin. The patrol forces of local traffic police are usually only arranged on national highways, provincial roads and at most district roads. Inter-commune and inter-village roads are almost left open, lacking traffic control.

Dang Thai Mai Street (Bac Vinh Industrial Park) also turned into a rice drying yard.

According to statistics from the Provincial Traffic Police Department, people in rural areas often commit some typical traffic violations when participating in traffic such as: Driving in the wrong lane; carrying more people than the prescribed number; not wearing a helmet when riding a motorbike; weaving, swerving, driving over the speed limit; driving after drinking alcohol; not having a driver's license or an invalid driver's license (in the first 6 months of 2016, accidents due to not paying attention killed 21 people, not controlling speed killed 22 people). In addition, most people live along traffic routes but their awareness of obeying traffic laws is still poor, the situation of encroaching on traffic safety corridors to set up shops, drying straw, rice... still occurs frequently in localities across the province.

Lieutenant Colonel Duong Thanh Canh - Deputy Chief of Tan Ky District Police said: Rural traffic accidents occur mainly due to the awareness of vehicle drivers, in many cases due to drinking alcohol and riding motorbikes. In Tan Ky, accidents often occur on the Ho Chi Minh Highway passing through the district, because vehicles travel on this route at high speed, while people participating in traffic follow the custom of "everyone goes their own way" on village roads.

What to do

To limit rural traffic accidents, Mr. Vo Minh Duc added: In the immediate future, localities need to quickly install signs and equipment to ensure rural traffic safety, build speed bumps from side roads to main roads; at the same time, mobilize people to clear trees and repair fences to avoid affecting visibility at intersections on inter-commune and inter-village roads. In addition, it is necessary to mobilize forces to participate in ensuring order and traffic safety in rural areas, the core of which is the district and commune police forces to increase patrols, control and handle violations on roads where accidents often occur. Not only propaganda and reminders but also handling violations to raise people's awareness of traffic participation. In addition, it must be determined that ensuring order and safety in rural traffic is the responsibility of the whole society, of the whole political system, first of all of the competent State agencies and especially the authorities, the heads of local authorities need to take drastic action.

Duc Dung