Vice Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee: Many car owners hire people to monitor traffic police to avoid them

On the afternoon of July 22, the Government held an online conference to review the work of ensuring traffic order and safety in the first 6 months of 2019. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired the conference. Also attending were Politburo member, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh and leaders of relevant ministries and branches.

At Nghe An bridge, comrade Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired.

Accidents decreased in all 3 criteria

According to the report of the Ministry of Public Security and the Vietnam Maritime Administration, in the first 6 months of the year (from December 15, 2018 to June 14, 2019), there were 8,385 traffic accidents nationwide, killing 3,810 people and injuring 6,358 people. Compared to the same period last year, the number of traffic accidents decreased by 641 cases, the number of deaths decreased by 311 people, and the number of injuries decreased by 679 people.

Scene at Nghe An bridge. Photo: Tien Hung

Meanwhile, in Nghe An, during this period, there were 102 traffic accidents, killing 71 people and injuring 67 people. Compared to the same period in 2018, there were 14 fewer accidents, 8 fewer deaths, and 23 fewer injuries.

Speaking about handling oversized and overloaded vehicles at the conference, comrade Le Hong Vinh said that in recent times, Nghe An has implemented many synchronous and drastic solutions, bringing about clear results such as: strengthening load control at the source of goods; adding the content of signing a commitment not to use or hire vehicles that violate the load, wall size, and cargo box to construct works and projects to the bidding documents of construction units; strictly handling contractors who intentionally violate...; making a list of vehicles that frequently violate the load and size limits, through journey monitoring devices to focus on checking and handling compliance with load, wall size, and cargo box...

Vehicle scales showing signs of overload at Traffic Police Station 5-1 (Dien Chau). Photo courtesy

Nghe An province has also provided 6 sets of portable weight checks to the police in localities with high levels of weight violations to organize inspections, prevent and handle vehicle weight violations right from the source of goods and the local area. Directing the Department of Transport to develop a project on "Smart Traffic in Nghe An province" for early promulgation, which proposes a solution to install a number of automatic vehicle weight checks on some key roads to control vehicle weight 24/7; at the same time, warning organizations and individuals who often violate vehicle weight, coordinating with the police force to strictly handle weight violations.

In the first 6 months of the year, the Provincial Police and the Department of Transport recorded 4,255 cases of administrative violations regarding vehicle weight, imposed administrative fines of more than 17.6 billion VND; temporarily revoked driving licenses of 2,305 cases; and temporarily detained 255 cars.

However, the Vice Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee also said that the work of controlling overloaded and oversized vehicles in the area still has many shortcomings and limitations such as controlling vehicle load using traditional methods; not regularly checking and urging the implementation of signed commitments of organizations and individuals on not carrying overloaded goods, loading and unloading goods onto cars at warehouses, ports, wharves, yards, and sources of goods...;

In some cases, for business profit, they still deliberately violate; many vehicle owners even find ways to deal with the authorities, such as: using side roads to avoid control, taking advantage of shift changes between working groups, operating in remote areas; especially some vehicle owners hire people to monitor the movement and activities of traffic police to avoid detection.

Focus on control at the source

To minimize the operation of overloaded and oversized vehicles in the area, comrade Le Hong Vinh said that in the coming time, Nghe An will direct functional forces to focus on controlling vehicle loads at locations near the source of goods, warehouses, material mines, and mineral mines to handle violations as soon as they start circulating on roads; strengthen coordination in patrolling and controlling; provide and share data promptly.

Prioritize resource allocation, continue to equip portable load-checking scales for localities with key routes passing through, high density of transport vehicles to proactively check and handle oversized and overloaded vehicles to close the area of ​​vehicle load control. Handle the responsibility of local and unit leaders if overloaded vehicles are allowed to operate in the management area without effective measures to prevent and handle.

Many vehicles have their sides and cargo boxes extended to overload. Photo: Tien Hung

In addition, at the conference, the leaders of Nghe An province requested the Ministry of Transport to direct the Department of Vehicle Registration to build a database of vehicles violating the weight limit so that the authorities can provide and share information on vehicles violating the weight limit, wall size, and cargo container in order to handle vehicles that frequently violate the weight limit, wall size, and container during vehicle registration activities; for vehicles that violate the wall size, container size 3 times or more between 2 inspection periods (detected through technical equipment of the authorities), the inspection will be refused and a warning will be issued on the national vehicle registration system.

Nghe An province also requested the Ministry of Transport to soon deploy the construction and put into operation of vehicle weight control stations on National Highway 1, National Highway 7 and Ho Chi Minh Road according to Decision No. 1885/QD-TTg dated September 30, 2016 of the Prime Minister; apply science and technology to serve vehicle weight control activities. Direct road BOT units to install and operate the weight control system at toll stations using BOT roads as a basis for administrative sanctions against oversized and overloaded vehicles when passing through toll stations...