Colonel Cao Minh Phuong: 'Nghe An handles violations of alcohol concentration on all routes'

PV:The 2019 Law on Prevention and Control of Alcohol Harmful Effects took effect from January 1, 2020. How do you assess the necessity of promulgating this Law? Accordingly, can you tell us about the traffic accident situation related to drinking alcohol in the past time in Nghe An province?

Colonel Cao Minh Phuong:The 2019 Law on Prevention and Control of Alcohol Harm is a great effort by the Party, the National Assembly and the Government to issue strict regulations to prevent the negative effects of alcohol on social life, which are closely related to ensuring traffic safety and order. Therefore, the promulgation of the Law has received high consensus in society and is an important turning point, creating a solid and strong legal basis to prevent and reduce traffic accidents due to alcohol concentration violations.

Colonel Cao Minh Phuong - Head of Traffic Police Department, Nghe An Provincial Police. Photo: PV

According to a report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2018, Vietnam ranked second in Southeast Asia in terms of the number of deaths due to road collisions. In Nghe An province, in 2019, there were 294 traffic accidents, killing 182 people and injuring 210 people. Accordingly, causing huge damage to human life and property, irreparable loss and pain, robbing the happiness of many families and clans...

Of the accidents that occur, 15% of serious traffic accidents are caused by alcohol abuse, driving on the wrong side of the road, lane, not controlling speed, not paying attention, avoiding illegal overtaking... It is worth mentioning that drinking and driving does not only happen at the end of the year, when parties and meetings often take place, but also happens every day.

In the first 5 days of the campaign, there were 51 cases of alcohol concentration violations, of which 16 were cars and 35 were motorbikes. Photo courtesy of PV

PV:The new point in this Law is to strictly prohibit drivers of vehicles with alcohol in their breath or blood, including bicycles and other primitive vehicles. According to Decree 100/2019/ND-CP, the fine is up to 40 million VND. What do you think about this issue and what are the details of the fine?

Colonel Cao Minh Phuong:In fact, in some countries around the world, it has long been regulated that "if you drink alcohol, do not drive", but in our country, in addition to the absolute ban on cars, there are still regulations on the allowable alcohol concentration for drivers of motorbikes and scooters, so many people circumvent the law, knowing it is dangerous but still not afraid, not to mention the penalty for the act of using alcohol and beer while driving according to Decree 46/2016/ND-CP is still low, not applied to bicycles and other rudimentary vehicles.

Therefore, the new point in this Law is to strictly prohibit drivers of vehicles with alcohol concentration in their breath or blood, including bicycles and other primitive vehicles. This is the strictest regulation in the world for violating alcohol concentration while driving a vehicle.

Accordingly, applying Decree 100/2019/ND-CP replacing Decree 46/2016/ND-CP effective from January 1, 2020, sharply increasing the fine for people who drink alcohol and drive cars, motorbikes, and bicycles is really necessary. This is one of the most sharply increased fines, divided into 3 levels depending on the alcohol concentration measured from the driver.

Level 1: Not exceeding 50mg/100ml of blood or 0.25mg/1l of breath. Cars: 6 - 8 million VND; Driver's license revocation for 10 - 12 months. Motorcycles: 2 - 3 million VND; Driver's license revocation for 10 - 12 months. Bicycles, electric bicycles: 80,000 - 100,000 VND.

Level 2: Exceeding 50mg to 80mg/100ml of blood or exceeding 0.25mg to 0.4mg/1l of breath. Cars: 16 - 18 million VND; Driver's license revocation from 16 - 18 months. Motorcycles: 4 - 5 million VND; Driver's license revocation from 16 - 18 months. Bicycles, electric bicycles: 200,000 - 400,000 VND.

Level 3: Exceeding 80 mg/100 ml of blood or exceeding 0.4 mg/1 liter of breath. Cars: 30 - 40 million VND; Driver's license revocation for 22 - 24 months. Motorcycles: 6 - 8 million VND; Driver's license revocation for 22 - 24 months. Bicycles: 600 - 800,000 VND.

PV:Besides the fact that drinking alcohol is a part of Vietnamese culture, it is not easy for the Law to be implemented in real life. Many people are worried that eating some fermented foods while driving can still result in alcohol exposure. What do you think about this issue?

Colonel Cao Minh Phuong:Drinking alcohol is a culinary beauty in Vietnamese culture. However, this cultural beauty is now becoming distorted by the habit of uncontrolled drinking. People consider the ability to drink alcohol and beer as the key, the measure in many relationships. Along with that is the habit of forcing each other, challenging each other to drink alcohol and beer to the end.

Alcohol is consumed anytime, anywhere. When sad, there is alcohol, when happy, there is alcohol, and especially in business relationships, there is a need for alcohol and beer. That not only damages the cultural beauty of toasting, but also causes unpredictable consequences, especially if you drive a vehicle and cause a traffic accident.

According to statistics published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2018, Vietnamese people's alcohol and beer consumption is high compared to other countries in the region. It is estimated that on average, a Vietnamese person aged 15 and over consumes up to 8.4 liters of pure alcohol in 1 year, more than Chinese people (7.2 liters) and 4 times more than Singaporeans (2 liters).

Therefore, the provisions in the current new Law are very correct and necessary. Specifically, in addition to prohibiting drivers of vehicles with alcohol in their breath or blood, including bicycles and other rudimentary vehicles, it is also prohibited to incite, provoke, entice, or force others to drink alcohol, beer... I believe that with the determination of the entire Party, the entire people, especially each cadre, civil servant, and functional force in performing public duties in each locality, we can completely do it, because we have previously succeeded in implementing the regulation requiring the wearing of helmets...

Most of the cases tested did not violate alcohol concentration, but there were also many cases that were recorded and handled for violations. Photo: PV

The problem that many people worry about is that eating some fermented foods while participating in traffic can still "stick" to the alcohol concentration when blowing, in fact in Nghe An, through inspection, this problem has not arisen.

However, this is not without basis. In fact, there are some foods that when consumed can increase the alcohol concentration in the body. In particular, some fruits such as lychee, grapes, durian, pineapple, apple, banana, mango... However, people can be completely assured because the alcohol concentration in these foods is not high and evaporates after a short time.

PV:So, can you tell us about the deployment plan of the provincial traffic police force in the coming time?

Colonel Cao Minh Phuong:Based on the advice of the Provincial Police leaders to direct the police of units and localities, from 0:00 on January 1, 2020, we have deployed forces to inspect and strictly handle violations according to Decree 100/2019/ND-CP, focusing on handling violations of alcohol concentration. According to the statistics, in the first 5 days of the campaign, there were 51 violations. Of which, 16 were cars and 35 were motorbikes.

In particular, during the peak period of ensuring traffic order, safety, and social order during the New Year, Lunar New Year, and Spring Festival 2020, the Provincial Traffic Police will continue to increase the number of personnel, patrol, control, and handle violations. We will focus on strong inspections in the evening, on holidays, and on routes with high traffic volume.

Strengthen patrols and controls on national and provincial highways. Photo courtesy of PV

Accordingly, the teams and stations will be directed to coordinate with local police to actively propagate and regularly inspect and handle violations on national and provincial highways. In addition, the Traffic Police of 21 districts, cities and towns will simultaneously deploy working groups to inspect and handle violations of alcohol concentration on all routes managed by the locality.

We believe that, along with the propaganda to raise people's awareness, along with strict handling of violations from the very beginning, the beer and alcohol culture of Vietnamese people in general, and of Nghe An people in particular, will certainly change, thereby moving towards a responsible beer and alcohol drinking culture and of course traffic accidents in 2020 and the following years will decrease.

PV:Thank you!