Check suspension bridges and weak bridges nationwide

That was the directive of Politburo member, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee at the national online conference on ensuring traffic order and safety in the first quarter of 2014, on the morning of February 25.

Overview of the online conference

At the Conference, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, on behalf of the National Traffic Safety Committee, sent his deepest condolences to the families of victims of the recent suspension bridge collapse in Chu Va 6 village, Son Binh commune, Tam Duong district, Lai Chau province.

Attention and support for victims of bridge collapse in Lai Chau

The Deputy Prime Minister directed the leaders of Lai Chau province and other provinces nationwide to urgently inspect and review the entire suspension bridge system and weak bridges in their localities, report to competent authorities and find solutions. Lai Chau province is interested in supporting the families of those who died in the recent bridge collapse and providing good treatment for the injured.

The Deputy Prime Minister also requested the police to quickly, seriously and accurately investigate the cause of this heartbreaking accident in order to take strict and thorough measures.

Vice Chairman of Lai Chau Provincial People's Committee Le Trong Quang said that the province is urgently mobilizing doctors and medical equipment to treat the injured and provide support and condolences to the families of the deceased.

On the morning of February 25, doctors from Bach Mai and Viet Duc Hospitals took helicopters to Lai Chau with modern equipment to support, so the treatment of injured victims will be better and faster.

Prevent traffic accidents involving passenger cars, heavy trucks, and container trucks

A representative of Quang Binh province said that before, during and after the Lunar New Year, the province regularly inspected and strictly handled hundreds of overloaded passenger vehicles, collecting nearly 4 billion VND in fines for violations, thereby contributing to significantly reducing traffic accidents and traffic congestion at that time.

According to the leaders of Hai Phong city, the city has directed serious inspection and testing of drivers involved in drug use, and has eliminated hundreds of related drivers to ensure the safety of people's lives and property.

Regarding key tasks and specific solutions in the coming time, the National Traffic Safety Committee proposed tightening transport business activities and controlling vehicle loads, first of all to prevent particularly serious accidents involving passenger cars, heavy trucks, and container trucks.

Effectively control drivers who drink alcohol; develop regulations prohibiting officials and civil servants from drinking alcohol while driving, as well as prohibiting drinking alcohol at noon and during working hours.

In particular, drastically implement the nationwide inspection of drug-using drivers, thereby permanently revoking their driving licenses. At the same time, develop and implement a plan to reduce traffic accidents in rural areas.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc gave a speech at the conference.

Penalties for drug-related driving, prohibiting drinking and driving

Concluding the Conference, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasized that the traffic accident situation has changed a lot in recent times but is still serious, causing pain in public opinion and leaving great pain for each family with victims and a burden on society.

Therefore, in the coming time, it is necessary to effectively patrol and control drivers addicted to drugs and alcohol while driving; strictly prohibit officials and civil servants from drinking alcohol at noon.

Localities must implement specific plans to ensure traffic order and safety in rural areas.

The Vietnam Road Administration needs to immediately put the Center for integrating information data from journey monitoring devices into operation to manage, warn, prevent and minimize traffic accidents, especially serious accidents involving passenger vehicles, into use in March 2014.

The National Traffic Safety Committee and the Ministry of Transport have increased their direction to all localities to inspect automobile transportation activities, coordinate with the health sector to simultaneously inspect drivers involved in drugs to eliminate these drivers, and develop specific regulations for this group.

The Ministry of Public Security and provincial police need to increase patrols and regular controls to strictly handle violations of overloading, oversize, and exceeding the prescribed number of people. Do not neglect patrols and traffic safety controls in rural areas because this is still a "gap" in traffic patrol and control.

Localities need to step up propaganda work more strongly on mass media to raise awareness and create changes in concrete actions for the people and traffic participants. At the same time, they also need to criticize and publish news about officials and civil servants who violate traffic laws to educate and deter more effectively.

For routes with expansion projects running through them (such as National Highway 1A), the Deputy Prime Minister requested that localities speed up site clearance on schedule; during the construction process, it is necessary to ensure that traffic jams and traffic accidents do not occur on these routes.

According to chinhphu.vn