What caused the accident on Highway 1A?

(Baonghean) - With a length of 73.8 km, National Highway 1A accounts for less than 1/10 of the total length of the 6 national highways in Nghe An. And compared to more than 10 thousand kilometers of inner-city roads in the province, that length accounts for a very small proportion. Yet in recent years, compared to the number of traffic accidents occurring on the routes, National Highway 1A has always been at the bottom; and in terms of serious traffic accidents, or those that cause traffic jams for many hours, Route 1A is often at the top compared to other routes.

There are no specific statistics yet, but according to a specialized officer, among the 333 traffic accidents that occurred in our province in 2013, killing 222 people and injuring 286 people, as well as among the 35 traffic accidents that killed 23 people that occurred from the second half of January to the first half of February 2014, the number of accidents and deaths on National Highway 1A accounted for the largest proportion.

Normally, when talking about the causes of traffic accidents, people often first mention the poor awareness of traffic laws of road users, low traffic culture, then the vehicles participating in traffic do not meet technical standards and finally the degraded traffic infrastructure. Speaking specifically about National Highway 1A through Nghe An, it can be affirmed that the high density of vehicles and traffic participants while the roads are narrow and degraded are the main causes of traffic accidents, especially those that cause traffic jams.

A traffic accident in Dien Chau district

Here is a recent case: on the afternoon of February 13, on National Highway 1A, through Nghi Long Commune (Nghi Loc), when a pickup truck 37C-020.79 carrying gas had just stopped on the side of the road, a motorbike 37B2-222.98 driven by a man in the same direction overtook it and encountered a car going in the opposite direction, so it crashed into the side of the pickup truck. Although the accident did not cause any fatalities, it can be classified as “serious” because it caused traffic jams for kilometers for more than an hour. And it goes without saying that the main cause in this case was due to the narrow, degraded road, so when an incident occurs, it is understandable that it causes traffic jams. And it is not difficult to understand why many similar accidents occur on Route 1A (section through Nghe An) if we know that, according to a survey by the Road Traffic Police Department (Provincial Police), on this route, there are 13 black spots for traffic accidents; 18 complicated traffic safety hotspots, 11 locations that require additional warning signs. In particular, many sections of the road are narrow, encroached, have many intersections, and many sections with a lot of people traveling...

The reality of the traffic safety situation on National Highway 1A in general, (the section through Nghe An in particular) in recent years shows that the project to upgrade and expand this road into a 4-lane road is a correct and necessary policy of the State. It not only contributes to the socio-economic development of the province and the whole country but also contributes to reducing the suffering of many people caused by traffic accidents.

Viet Long