Clearing traffic safety corridors: A case of "catching and releasing"?
(Baonghean)Although the authorities in Vinh City have carried out many campaigns to clear traffic safety corridors on inner-city roads, the encroachment on sidewalks by residents recurs when law enforcement is absent. The reason is that people's awareness is still low and the penalties are not strong enough.
Nguyen Van Troi Street, located in Ben Thuy Ward, Vinh City, is one of the traffic safety hotspots. The encroachment of sidewalks by shops and businesses for advertising and trading is a frequent occurrence. From the intersection of Nguyen Du and Phuong Hoang streets to the entrance of Vinh University Kindergarten, there are dozens of parking areas right on the sidewalks. Even the small remaining spaces are turned into makeshift markets for selling vegetables and fruits. The northern sidewalk of Nguyen Van Troi Street is completely occupied. Advertising signs spill onto the road, obstructing traffic and detracting from urban aesthetics. Because the sidewalks are encroached upon, pedestrians are forced to walk in the road, which is very dangerous, as this is a busy street with high traffic volume. Although the Ben Thuy Ward urban regulations team has repeatedly launched campaigns to clear the area, the encroachment returns when the task force is absent.
It must be acknowledged that, in recent times, the city's authorities and functional forces have made many efforts to restore urban traffic order, carrying out numerous campaigns to clear encroachments on traffic safety corridors. In the first two months of 2012, functional forces handled 920 cases of violations, imposing fines totaling 126 million VND and confiscating over 300 tents, awnings, and advertising signs. However, after each clearance and dismantling, the situation of shops and stalls encroaching on sidewalks for business purposes recurs. Particularly on Le Hong Phong street in Truong Thi ward, Vinh City, dozens of budget restaurants brazenly occupy the sidewalks every day. Some owners even openly display "parking" signs on the sidewalks. This situation has been and continues to make the urban landscape of Vinh City chaotic and unsightly. Mr. Le Quang Vinh, team leader of the urban order enforcement team of Truong Thi ward, Vinh City, explained: "This situation keeps recurring and cannot be stopped because the leasing unit has not made any commitment regarding urban order. Meanwhile, the Truong Thi ward government has not yet worked with the unit that leases the land, so it is very difficult for our enforcement team to ask the owners to comply with urban order regulations, and we even get verbally abused."
2012 was the National Year of Traffic Safety, and the Vinh City Party Committee issued Directive No. 05 in August 2011 on strengthening the leadership of Party committees at all levels in urban order management. This is a correct policy of Vinh City in restoring urban traffic order. Therefore, Party committees and authorities at the ward and commune levels need to be more resolute in handling violations and restoring order on sidewalks and roads, avoiding the haphazard approach that has occurred in the past.
