Since the beginning of 2024, Nghe An has handled more than 1,100 cases of speeding violations through cold fine cameras.

Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Nam Hong - Deputy Head of Traffic Police Department (Nghe An Police) about this issue.

PV:If previously speeding drivers mainly concentrated on national highways, now this situation also occurs on provincial, district and even communal roads. So, how has the traffic police handled this situation, sir?

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Nam Hong:Recently, speeding violations by traffic participants have been common, not only on national highways and inner-city roads but also on rural roads, especially when there is no police force. In particular, vehicles mainly exceed the speed limit by 10 km/h to 20 km/h, with some cases exceeding the speed limit by more than 35 km/h...

This not only directly endangers the driver but also endangers other road users. Because driving at high speed will limit the ability to analyze and handle situations that occur on the road, the higher the speed, the higher the level of injury and in fact, there have been many serious traffic accidents.

To promptly detect, prevent, and handle violations, contributing to curbing traffic accidents, in addition to promoting the system of cameras to issue fines, the department has directed teams and stations to strengthen patrol and control work, organize secret recording to strictly handle the act of driving vehicles exceeding the speed limit.

Since the beginning of 2024, through the cold fine camera system, 1,119 cases of speeding violations have been handled, collecting fines of over 2.3 billion VND. Along with that, through patrols and controls, the Provincial Traffic Police force has detected and recorded 6,814 cases of speeding violations (including: 5,244 cars; 1,497 motorbikes; 8 electric machines; 65 other vehicles), collecting fines of over 12 billion VND, temporarily detaining 283 vehicles, and revoking 1,571 driving licenses.

PV:Can you tell me what the current fine is for speeding violations?

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Nam Hong:Currently, according to Decree 100/2019/ND-CP as well as some amendments and supplements in Decree 123/2021/ND-CP, vehicle drivers will be fined from VND 800,000 to VND 12 million (depending on the speed) for cars; and from VND 300,000 to VND 5 million (depending on the speed) for motorbikes.

In addition to administrative fines, speeding vehicle owners may also have their driving licenses revoked for 1-4 months. At the same time, they will be prosecuted for criminal liability if they cause serious traffic accidents.

PV:How is the penalty process through the cold fine camera system carried out, sir?

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Nam Hong:Nghe An province is currently installing traffic cameras to issue fines at 28 locations. With a stable transmission system and sharp image quality, violations such as running red lights, speeding, etc. are all recorded and photographed by the surveillance camera system. After verifying the violations, ensuring all four legal elements including time, location of violation, violation, and license plate number of the violating vehicle, the Traffic Police Department will print and issue a notice to the address of the violating vehicle owner to impose a fine according to regulations.

In case the violator does not come to pay the fine or intentionally evades, the traffic police will publicize the violating vehicles on the electronic information portal of the Traffic Police Department and at the same time send a notice to the Vietnam Register to temporarily suspend the vehicle inspection.

PV:Besides speeding, there is also the use of fake license plates, license plate editing, license plate covering, license plate blurring, license plate flipping (2 license plates) to avoid fines. So, how is this behavior handled?

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Nam Hong:The use of fake license plates (license plates not issued by competent authorities), license plate editing, plate covering, plate blurring, plate flipping (2 license plates) to avoid cameras recording violations for the purpose of issuing fines has appeared in recent years. The above behavior not only violates the Road Traffic Law, but also has many unpredictable consequences for security and order...

Currently, along with detection through patrols and inspections, through images provided by people... the Traffic Police force is continuing to make full use of the surveillance camera system to support verification and detection of vehicles with signs of falsifying license plates issued by competent authorities. When detecting a vehicle in violation, the command center will notify the mobile patrol teams to stop the vehicle for handling.

Before 2022, the penalty for this violation under Decree 100/ND-CP was still low (from 800,000-1,000,000 VND). From 2022, Decree 123/ND-CP (amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 100) has increased the penalty for this behavior many times. Specifically, a fine of 4-6 million VND will be imposed for driving a vehicle with a license plate that does not match the vehicle registration certificate or with a license plate not issued by a competent authority (including trailers and semi-trailers).

PV:Taking advantage of the cold fines for speeding violations, there are now people who pretend to be traffic police officers, calling to notify people of cold fines and requesting money transfers to their accounts to commit fraud. Can you warn people about this situation?

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Nam Hong:All traffic violations detected through the monitoring system (cold fine cameras) are notified by the Traffic Police in writing to the vehicle owner or driver of the violating vehicle, requesting them to go to the unit that discovered the violation for handling. Or when the vehicle is inspected, the inspection agency will inform them of the violation and request them to go to the Traffic Police unit that discovered the violation for handling. The Traffic Police do not call to notify of the violation, nor do they ask the violator to transfer money to pay the fine to any account.

Although up to this point, the Provincial Police Traffic Police Department has not received any reports of impersonating traffic police to request payment of fines. However, to avoid losing money to scammers, people need to be vigilant against this type of crime, and be wary of calls related to "cold fine" receipts. Accordingly, do not provide personal information to anyone, especially over the phone.

PV:Thank you!