Limit speeding and reckless driving with fines

(Baonghean) - Faced with the situation of many drivers speeding and recklessly overtaking, causing traffic insecurity, since June 2017, Vinh City Traffic Police have begun to deploy speed cameras in the inner city and fine drivers.

Vinh City traffic police shoot speeders on Tran Phu Street. Photo: Phuong Thao

Many buses and taxis violate speed limits.

Identifying Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, Hung Dung Ward (Vinh City) as one of the routes with many speeding vehicles. Especially bus companies passing through here often speed, overtake recklessly, and squeeze each other to compete for passengers, posing many potential risks of traffic accidents, on September 2, a disguised speed shooting team led by Captain Le Dang Khoa - Deputy Head of the Traffic Police Team (Vinh City Police) used support tools to detect and check speeding vehicles on this route.

In just over 1 hour, the authorities discovered many cases of violations, speeding by more than 10km/h. Such as the bus with license plate 37B-01484 of Thach Thanh company, the bus with license plate 37B-01377 and license plate 37S-7454 of Dong Bac company; the taxi with license plate 37A-30592 of Mai Linh company... By the end of September 2, 2017, the traffic police force recorded nearly 20 cases of speeding, most of which were drivers of bus and taxi companies in the area.

In parallel with the disguised team, another working group also carried out public speed shooting on National Highway 1 through Nghi Lien Commune, Vinh City. Thereby, it was recorded that although they had entered the inner city area, many drivers still exceeded the speed limit, some motorcyclists even ran red lights and accelerated to run away when they discovered the police.

Typically, at 12:30 on September 2, Nguyen Van Tu (residing in Nghi Loc district) drove a motorbike through Nghi Lien commune (Vinh city) at a speed of 75 km/h. When the traffic police asked Tu about the maximum speed limit in the inner city, this young man said that he knew the law that only allowed motorbikes to go 60 km/h, but because he thought that at noon there would be few people passing by and there would be no traffic police monitoring, he deliberately drove the motorbike too fast.

The Vinh City Police have been implementing speed shooting in the inner city and fining drivers since June 2017. Accordingly, the traffic police force will combine public speed shooting, on-site records and disguised speed shooting and fining drivers. Both methods are implemented in parallel, ensuring the area is always closed 24/24h. This is done on all inner-city routes with all vehicles.

In cases where the disguised teams detect violations, the traffic police will not immediately fine them but will save the images to send a notice of the fine. For buses and taxis, the notice of violation will be sent to the business; including full images of the vehicle, time and location of the violation.

Based on that, businesses can easily identify the offending driver to have appropriate handling. As for private vehicles, the authorities will contact the vehicle owner and driver to come to the traffic police headquarters to work. If the violator has not come to resolve the issue within 7 days, the Vinh City Traffic Police will send a document requesting the vehicle inspection agency to coordinate in handling the issue.

Positive signal

After 5 months of implementation, the combination of both public speed shooting, on-the-spot fines and disguised speed shooting, fines, has significantly increased the traffic awareness of many drivers. Ms. Tran Thi Mai (a water seller on Nguyen Duy Trinh Street, Vinh City) said: "Previously, only when they saw the shadow of traffic police, bus and taxi drivers would drive slowly. But now, there are even disguised police officers shooting speed, so they drive more cautiously. We, the people, are very supportive of this."

Agreeing with the above viewpoint, Mr. Phan Manh Tuan (a motorbike taxi driver, residing in Ben Thuy ward, Vinh city) said: "For a long time, I have only seen traffic police applying the form of fines for speeding in suburban areas, now it is also applied in inner city areas, I think this is a good solution to prevent speeding and reckless driving...".

Authorities draw up a record of traffic violations. Photo courtesy

It is known that the working groups of the Traffic Police Team, Vinh City Police will continuously change the time, location and method of speed shooting, ensuring a closed area.

On the gateway routes into the city, traffic police set up checkpoints, dressed in uniform, openly shooting speed and arresting violators on the spot to deter violators. On inner-city routes, traffic police disguise themselves in plain clothes to record speeding violations as a basis for fining drivers.

Assessing the results of the implementation of the plan to ensure traffic safety in the inner city, Lieutenant Colonel Hoang Duy Ha - Deputy Head of Vinh City Police said: Although it has only been implemented for a short time, the combination of the two forms of speed shooting has brought many positive signals, and people's traffic awareness has clearly increased.

Therefore, in the coming time, Vinh City Police will strengthen inspection and punishment by this method, to ensure traffic order and safety, especially at the end of the year and near Lunar New Year.

Phuong Thao