Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh: Illegal vehicles tend to increase

On the morning of October 11, the Government held an online conference to review the work of ensuring traffic order and safety in the first 9 months of 2018 and deploy key tasks for the last 3 months of the year.

Politburo member and Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh chaired the conference. Also attending were Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The and leaders of a number of relevant ministries, departments and agencies.

At Nghe An bridge, chaired by Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Huynh Thanh Dien. Also attending was Mr. Nguyen Hong Ky - Director of the Department of Transport.

Comrade Huynh Thanh Dien presided at Nghe An bridge point: Photo: Tien Hung

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh said that although the Government has issued many directives and ministries and sectors have resolutely implemented measures, traffic accidents are still complicated. Particularly serious accidents continue to occur, causing great damage to people and property. Notably, traffic accidents all involve passenger vehicles, at "black spots" where roads and railways intersect.

"The situation of illegal buses and bus stations tends to increase," Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh emphasized.

"The situation of illegal buses and bus stations tends to increase," said the Deputy Prime Minister, adding that in the patrolling, controlling and handling of violations by the authorities, there is still a mentality of deference and negativity among the law enforcement forces, and there are also many cases of resistance against law enforcement officers. The above cases have not been handled promptly, and the Prime Minister has not received a report on the handling of responsibilities of the leaders, especially in handling responsibilities for allowing illegal level crossing violations to occur.

Illegal vehicles openly solicit customers on central streets of Vinh City. Photo: PV

The Deputy Prime Minister requested that relevant agencies uphold their sense of responsibility, correctly assess the situation, especially particularly serious traffic accidents, to have drastic and fundamental solutions to resolve the situation, prevent similar situations from happening, and reduce and control traffic accidents in the coming time.

In the first 9 months of 2018 (from December 16, 2017 to September 15, 2018), there were 13,232 traffic accidents nationwide, killing 6,012 people and injuring over 10,000 people. Of which, the number of children under 18 years old who were injured or died in traffic accidents was nearly 1,000.

Provincial leaders and representatives of departments and branches at Nghe An bridge. Photo: Tien Hung

In the first 9 months, 38 provinces and centrally-run cities had a decrease in the number of deaths due to traffic accidents compared to the same period in 2017. Of these, 19 localities had a decrease of over 10% in the number of deaths. The leading cause of traffic accidents was the driver violating the lane or road section, accounting for over 25%, over 9% due to speeding, nearly 10% due to inattentive turning, over 7% due to violations of driving procedures, nearly 4% due to alcohol use and over 36% of traffic accidents had no specific cause.

Meanwhile, in Nghe An in the first 9 months of the year, there were 175 traffic accidents, killing 123 people and injuring 130. Of these, the cause was due to not paying attention, 49 cases, killing 33 people; the cause was due to driving on the wrong side of the road or lane, 35 cases, killing 26 people; the cause was due to not controlling speed, 25 cases, killing 23 people... Half of the total traffic accidents in Nghe An involved car drivers.

Recently, Nghe An has seen an increase in illegal vehicles, especially vehicles with less than 9 seats, operating regularly on routes such as Hoang Mai - Vinh, Do Luong - Vinh, Quy Hop - Vinh, etc. According to incomplete statistics, the whole province has more than 300 of these vehicles operating illegally to pick up and drop off passengers.