Check all sleeper buses before September 30

The Vietnam Road Administration requests units to ensure safety when continuing to allow operation and recommends temporarily suspending the operation of sleeper buses on specific routes if there is a high risk of safety loss.

All sleeper buses will be inspected and reviewed before September 30.

This is stated in the official dispatch of the General Department of Roads (Ministry of Transport) sent to the Road Management Departments I, II, III, IV; and the Departments of Transport. At the same time, the official dispatch also requires these units to report the results of inspections and reviews to ensure safety of double-decker sleeper bus routes before September 30.

Specifically, currently, double-decker sleeper buses are usually large in size, with a higher center of gravity than regular buses. When traveling on steep mountain passes, there is a high risk of overturning.

To ensure safety for passengers on this type of vehicle, the General Department requires the Road Management Departments and Departments of Transport to compile the number of double-decker sleeper buses licensed by the Department to transport passengers and the total number of routes that have allowed the above type of vehicle to circulate in the management area.

Accordingly, relevant units must review national highways, provincial roads and district roads in the management area where sleeper buses pass through; evaluate the work of ensuring traffic safety on each route in the management area according to the orientation based on technical factors and terrain conditions. Pay special attention to routes and sections of routes currently in operation with winding, steep terrain, curve radius and longitudinal and transverse slopes that do not ensure the circulation of double-decker buses.

In addition, the General Department also requested units to ensure safety when continuing to allow exploitation and recommended temporarily stopping the exploitation of this type of vehicle for each specific route if there is a risk of unsafety.

Regarding the strengthening of the protection system at steep passes and deep ravines, the General Department of Roads requires units to conduct inspections and reviews of protective walls, barriers and corrugated iron guardrails to make statistical proposals and promptly repair and supplement national highways at sections with protective works.

For sections of the route that do not have protective works, the authorities must review and determine the sections that need to install corrugated iron guardrails and protective walls to estimate the cost and propose additional installation.

Particularly for black spots, potential traffic safety points, steep passes, deep ravines with the risk of catastrophic and especially serious accidents, the General Department of Roads will conduct inspections and propose special design solutions to supplement new ones (if not yet available) or design solutions to strengthen the existing protection system to improve protection capabilities, preventing the situation of losing control and going off the road.

According to Vietnam +