Traffic violations not yet punished through black box data

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Quyen, Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Road Administration (Ministry of Transport), nearly 50,000 vehicles that are required to install GPS-black box monitoring devices have been officially monitored by the State management agency since March 1. However, handling traffic law violations through extracting data from the black box has not yet been implemented.

Specifically, from March 1, 2014, data from all black boxes installed by the unit on the means of transport will have to be continuously transmitted to the server of the Vietnam Road Administration. After that, the server will continue to process and synthesize the information. Each vehicle running on the road with a GPS device installed will be continuously monitored by a separate chart, clearly showing 5 pieces of information during the entire time the device is operating, including: Vehicle speed, driver working time, vehicle route, number of times the vehicle door is opened and closed, time and number of times the vehicle stops and parks.

Traffic inspectors check black box equipment installed on passenger buses. (Photo: Viet Hung/Vietnam+)

“The General Department has successfully piloted the integration of data and monitoring of information synthesis from the General Department's GPS Data Center system and also requested local Departments of Transport to urge transport units, equipment and service providers to connect and transmit data to the server system,” said Mr. Quyen.

Evidence, checking data on the morning of March 4, up to 11,054 vehicles had data transmitted directly to the Center, initially detected vehicles running at speeds up to 105km/h...

However, according to the leader of this General Department, the punishment of violations through black boxes will not be applied in the near future, but only reminders, corrections, and requests for correction. In case of failure to correct as required or re-offending, strict sanctions will be imposed according to regulations.

Explaining this, Mr. Quyen said that Decree 171 of the Government also has regulations on penalties related to black box devices, but initially, the exploitation of information from this device is only to help transport units manage drivers and vehicles, and to help authorities monitor businesses. The handling is also only limited to internal scope.

In addition, statistics from the General Department of Roads show that currently, data transmitted from local Departments of Transport is still incomplete. As of the end of February 2014, only about 30% of localities transmitted data. Meanwhile, the General Department's server is currently rented due to lack of funds.

“In the future, the General Department of Roads will work with functional forces such as the Police to coordinate and use information from black box devices to handle traffic violations and at the same time request the Ministry of Transport to provide funding to invest in a server system to ensure greater objectivity,” Mr. Quyen affirmed.

According to the provisions of Circular 55 of the Ministry of Transport on responsibilities and handling of violations in the organization and management of automobile transport business activities and road transport support services effective from April 1, 2014, enterprises and cooperatives operating transport will have their rights to operate fixed routes suspended or revoked for 1-3 months, specifically: Not providing or providing incorrect mandatory information as prescribed from the black box device; extracting 3-month data to detect drivers violating regulations on speed, picking up and dropping off passengers at the wrong place...

Referring to the issue of whether the level of fines will be able to "tie" transport units tightly if violations are punished through black boxes in the future, Mr. Quyen acknowledged that the level of handling violations as mentioned above is strict, clearly binding the responsibility of business owners in transport business organizations.

It is known that currently, the Ministry of Transport is drafting a new Decree to replace Decree 91 and 93 on transportation business conditions, which includes a provision requiring additional automobiles to install black box equipment such as trucks carrying goods of 10 tons or more./.

According to VNA