Advantages of separating the 2008 Road Traffic Law into the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety and the Road Law

The 2008 Road Traffic Law took effect on July 1, 2009. After nearly 13 years of implementation, the Law has had positive impacts on ensuring traffic order and safety, raising awareness and voluntary compliance of traffic participants. However, because the Law regulates three independent and different areas: road traffic safety, road infrastructure and road transport, the implementation of the Law has revealed shortcomings, difficulties, and obstacles that are not consistent with the actual situation.

Faced with that situation, it is urgent to separate the 2008 Road Traffic Law into two laws, the Road Law and the Road Traffic Order and Safety Law, in order to deeply regulate the contents, create a strong enough legal corridor to be able to solve urgent practical problems that are arising, ensuring that both areas of state management are implemented more effectively, efficiently and professionally, demonstrated through the following advantages:

Officers of the Provincial Traffic Police Department promote compliance with the Road Traffic Law in schools. Photo: D.C.

Firstly, contributing to the completion and development of the Vietnamese legal system, in line with the current trend of specialization in law-making.

The development of two specialized and independent laws is in accordance with the direction in Resolution No. 18 NQ/TW, dated October 25, 2017 of the 12th Party Central Committee: "One agency performs many tasks and one task is assigned to only one agency to preside over and take primary responsibility."

In fact, many laws have been separated into specialized laws such as: Law on Execution of Criminal Sentences, Law on Amnesty, Law on Execution of Temporary Detention and Temporary Detention separated from the Criminal Procedure Code, Law on Complaints and Accusations separated into Law on Accusations and Law on Complaints... This is also consistent with the law-making experience of many countries in the world when they all have specialized laws on traffic order and safety, separate from regulations on construction and development of traffic infrastructure and road transport.

Second, promote investment, construction and strong development activities in road traffic infrastructure; contribute to improving quality and safety conditions when participating in traffic.

Separating the 2008 Road Traffic Law into two specialized Laws will contribute to overcoming existing shortcomings and limitations, solving problems related to mechanisms for attracting investment resources, capital mechanisms, and infrastructure maintenance and repair, etc., thereby promoting investment, construction, and strong development of the current road and infrastructure systems, especially regulations on mechanisms for investment in construction and business of expressways to develop Vietnam's expressway network more and more synchronously, meeting the increasing travel needs of people as well as creating mechanisms to attract investment capital and build expressways (current practice shows that investment in expressways is very difficult to attract domestic and foreign investors because the legal corridor is still not attractive to investors).

Construction of O O bridge, on the North-South expressway, through Nghi Loc district. Photo: Quang An

Third, effectively solve current issues related to traffic order and safety; contribute to raising people's awareness and culture when participating in traffic; create breakthrough solutions to control and sustainably reduce traffic accidents, and minimize the damage to society caused by traffic accidents.

With the main goal of protecting human rights, ensuring the safety of life and health of traffic participants, the separation of the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety aims to create a fundamental and sustainable change in ensuring traffic order and safety, contributing to better ensuring human rights and civil rights according to the provisions of the 2013 Constitution and international treaties to which Vietnam is a member; reducing traffic congestion associated with environmental protection; building a civilized traffic culture approaching the traffic civilization of advanced countries in the world. In particular, the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety focuses on solving issues affecting traffic order and safety but not specifically regulated in the 2008 Road Traffic Law, or have been regulated but are no longer suitable for the current practical situation, specifically as follows:

– Regarding road traffic rules: Supplement regulations on enhancing safety for “vulnerable” traffic participants such as children, the elderly, the disabled, pedestrians and drivers of rudimentary road vehicles; describe and clarify some rules such as avoiding, overtaking, changing direction, changing lanes, using horns, signal lights, traffic on highways, in road tunnels, etc. to contribute to raising awareness and compliance with legal regulations for safe traffic, ensuring life and health for oneself and other traffic participants.

– Regarding traffic on highways: Compared to the 2008 Road Traffic Law, the draft Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety provides additional guidance for vehicles running on highways that encounter technical problems. At the same time, additional regulations are added on the maximum and minimum speeds of vehicles when participating in traffic on highways; the speed of some types of heavy-duty vehicles on highways; the safe distance between vehicles corresponding to speed and road surface conditions, weather, and terrain to ensure traffic safety.

– Regarding drivers participating in road traffic: The Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety stipulates in the direction of improving the quality of training, testing, and granting of driving licenses, ensuring the actual assessment of the qualifications, knowledge, and skills of drivers, especially the skills in handling situations when participating in traffic. In addition, the Law also, for the first time, fully and specifically stipulates the legal responsibilities of traffic participants, vehicle owners in handling administrative violations of road traffic order and safety, and of individuals and organizations that obstruct or endanger road traffic safety.

Students at PTS Driver Training and Testing Center learn to drive in a simulated cabin. Photo: D.C.

– Regarding traffic safety organization, traffic command and control, and resolving road traffic congestion: Regulations on resolving inadequacies in traffic organization that lead to traffic accidents and traffic congestion; responsibilities and mechanisms for resolving traffic congestion of ministries and local people's committees; measures to resolve traffic congestion in specific cases.

– Regarding handling road traffic accidents: Regulations on principles for handling traffic accidents; responsibilities of agencies, organizations and individuals at the scene of a traffic accident; responsibilities of the health sector, responsibilities of the police sector, responsibilities of road maintenance and exploitation agencies, responsibilities of insurance agencies and People's Committees at all levels in handling traffic accidents.

– Regarding law enforcement in detecting and handling violations: Building a legal foundation for detecting and handling violations; applying science and technology in the management, detection and handling of violations of road traffic order and safety; fundamentally reforming patrol and inspection methods towards modernization, saving costs for the State, while enhancing the effectiveness and strictness of the law; ensuring the fight against crimes and other violations of the law on road traffic routes.

Fourth, clearly define the responsibilities of agencies, departments and branches in resolving issues related to traffic order and safety; improve the effectiveness and efficiency of state management in the field of road traffic.

The practical implementation of the two separated laws will inevitably be effective, because there is a responsible agency, specific and clear implementation measures, mechanisms, policies and many regulations that create more favorable conditions for people, agencies and organizations. A typical example is the draft Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety, with strict regulations on the assignment of state management responsibilities of the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Transport, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and authorities at all levels in accordance with the functions, tasks and powers of each ministry, branch and locality in a specific, clear and legal manner. The specific and clear assignment of functions and tasks will enhance the responsibility and promote the initiative and creativity of each ministry, branch and locality, improve the effectiveness and efficiency of state management of road traffic order and safety, and contribute significantly to changing the situation of traffic order and safety, curbing traffic accidents and traffic congestion.

Traffic police force regulates traffic on Le Hong Phong street. Photo: Hai Vuong

Regarding the opinion that the promulgation of two separate laws will overlap functions and tasks. Research shows that the promulgation of two laws does not overlap functions and tasks but ensures consistency in application.

Specifically, the scope of regulation of the two laws is not the same or overlapping: The Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety regulates basic groups of issues, including: (1) Road traffic rules, road signaling systems, speed and distance between vehicles; (2) Management of vehicle safety and drivers participating in traffic; (3) Organization, command, control of traffic and resolution of road traffic congestion; (4) Resolution of road traffic accidents; (5) Law enforcement and legal responsibility.

Meanwhile, the Road Law project drafted by the Ministry of Transport will adjust regulations on: (1) Construction and development of road traffic infrastructure; (2) management and maintenance of road traffic infrastructure; (3) road transport, road transport support services; (4) management of road transport activities and road transport support services.

Regarding the subject of regulation: The Draft Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety mainly regulates the relationship between state agencies and traffic participants, ensuring that people travel in an orderly and safe manner. Meanwhile, the Road Law mainly regulates the relationship between central state agencies and local state agencies in mobilizing investment resources, constructing and developing the road traffic infrastructure system, connecting road infrastructure with railway infrastructure, inland waterways, airways and maritime routes; between the State and organizations and individuals participating in road transport business and road transport support services.

Thus, it can be seen that the development and promulgation of the two Laws is an inevitable, objective, and urgent requirement of practice, in accordance with the laws of development, in accordance with the trend of building and perfecting the legal system of Vietnam in the context of building and perfecting the socialist rule of law state, contributing to creating a more complete legal basis to promote and elevate both fields to meet the requirements in the new situation.