How will grazing livestock on the road be handled according to the law?

Reply:

According to Article 32 of the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety, it is clearly stated that: people who control, lead animals or drive vehicles pulled by animals must keep their animals close to the right edge of the road; only let animals cross the road after carefully observing and ensuring safety; absolutely must not obstruct traffic, must not lead animals into the motor vehicle lane and must not let them run free on the road.

In case the person leading the livestock violates the traffic safety rules, he/she will be administratively sanctioned according to the provisions of Article 11, Decree 168/2024/ND-CP. Specifically, acts such as not giving way, not obeying traffic signals, not cleaning up animal waste, allowing livestock to enter the roadway of motor vehicles, or allowing livestock to pull a vehicle without a driver can be fined from 150,000 VND to 600,000 VND. In particular, if leading livestock or a vehicle pulled by livestock onto the highway, the fine can be up to 2,000,000 VND.

Not only stopping at administrative sanctions, the act of letting livestock on the road cause an accident can also give rise to civil liability under Article 603 of the 2015 Civil Code. Accordingly, the owner or user of livestock is obliged to compensate for all damages caused by livestock to others, unless otherwise agreed. In case another person is at fault for causing damage, they must jointly compensate; if the livestock is used illegally, the illegal user is also responsible for compensation, and the owner of the livestock may be held jointly responsible if there is a fault in management.

In particular, if letting loose or leading a pet causes a traffic accident that results in death, the pet owner may be prosecuted under Article 128 of the 2015 Penal Code for involuntary manslaughter. The penalty for this crime can be non-custodial reform for up to 3 years or imprisonment from 1 to 5 years; if it causes the death of two or more people, the sentence can be up to 10 years in prison.