From the serious accident that killed a couple in Hung Nguyen: Need to be tough on passenger buses running on the wrong route!

Many frustrations

At around 4:00 a.m. on January 6, on Provincial Road 542B, Pham Hong Thai Street, in Hamlet 4, Hung Phuc Commune, Hung Nguyen District, a very serious traffic accident occurred. At that time, Mr. Nguyen Van N. and his wife, Ms. Nguyen Thi T. (residing in Hamlet 5, Chau Nhan Commune, Hung Nguyen District), were on their way to get goods from Vinh Market to sell at home. When they reached Hamlet 4, Hung Phuc Commune, their motorbike collided with a tractor, causing both husband and wife to fall onto the road. At the same time, a passenger bus with license plate 37F-000.51 of Duc Lan Transport and Tourism Company Limited was traveling in the opposite direction and hit, causing Mr. N. and his wife to die.

It is worth mentioning that this passenger bus has been granted a license by the Nghe An Department of Transport to run on a fixed route from the Eastern Bus Station of Vinh City (Nghe An) to Nuoc Ngam Bus Station (Hanoi), following the route from the Eastern Bus Station to National Highway 46 and then to the North and vice versa. However,The bus deliberately drove off route., all the way to the southwest of Vinh city (on provincial road 542B) and the above accident occurred.

According to the Department of Transport, Duc Lan Transport and Tourism Company Limited has 11 vehicles registered to operate fixed-route transport on 5 routes. Of which, there are 4 routes from Nghe An to Hanoi, departing from: Bac Vinh Bus Station; Vinh City Eastern Bus Station; Nam Dan Bus Station; Cua Lo Bus Station to Nuoc Ngam Bus Station and vice versa. In addition, there is 1 route departing from Mien Trung Bus Station to Vinh Phuc Province and vice versa. The case of this unit's passenger bus deliberately running on the wrong route and causing a serious traffic accident is being completed by the authorities and strictly handled according to the provisions of law.

In fact, it is not uncommon for passenger buses to deliberately run off fixed routes. Through investigation, we learned that currently, in Ky Son district, sleeper buses departing from Nghe An to the northern and southern provinces, although not scheduled to depart from Ky Son district, many bus companies still deliberately send buses to pick up and drop off passengers, causing chaos. This situation has been happening for many years, after several times the authorities took action, it was thought to have ended, but recently it has recurred more strongly.

Remember in March 2021, a series of passenger vans running on Route 7 came to Bac Vinh Bus Station to protest the fact that many illegal vans and off-route vans, even though they were not registered to run on fixed routes along Route 7, were still brazenly picking up passengers. Even many fixed-route sleeper vans running from Nghe An to Saigon, Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Hanoi, Mong Cai... under the pretext of picking up and dropping off passengers at home and pretending to be contract vans, also picked up passengers on short trips from Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Con Cuong districts to Vinh City. This has caused considerable damage to transport businesses that have registered for fixed intra-provincial routes.

In fact, every year, the Department of Transport Inspectorate and the Traffic Police force have also penalized many cases of vehicles running on the wrong route. Among them, there are vehicles with badges issued by the Department of Transport, and also vehicles issued by other provinces. After being penalized, many vehicles had their badges revoked. However, many vehicles still show "ignorance of the law", disregarding the regulations and continuing to run on the wrong route.

Need to rectify and handle seriously

According to the Department of Transport, up to now, there are 39 transport business units, with 670 fixed-route vehicles, operating on 1,065 routes, of which there are 124 intra-provincial routes and 941 inter-provincial routes. For inter-provincial routes, vehicles depart from 14 bus stations to bus stations in the Southern and Northern provinces, including: Bac Vinh Bus Station; Vinh City Eastern Bus Station; Central Bus Station; Yen Thanh Bus Station; Son Hai Bus Station; Nam Dan Bus Station; Dung Bus Station; Tan Ky Bus Station; Do Luong Bus Station; Con Cuong Bus Station; Quy Hop Bus Station; Que Phong Bus Station; Nghia Dan Bus Station; Cua Lo Bus Station.

Faced with the situation of passenger cars running on the wrong fixed route, Mr. Nguyen Sy Thang - Head of the Department of Transport Management, Department of Transport said: Recently, the department has issued many documents directing and rectifying the business of transporting by car in general and fixed-route passenger transport business in particular. In particular, it requires transport business units to review the functions and tasks of the management department, monitor traffic safety conditions and continue to strictly and fully implement the traffic safety assurance process as prescribed in Point a, Clause 2, Article 11 of Decree No. 10/2020/ND-CP dated January 17, 2020 of the Government and regulations in Article 4 of Circular No. 12/2020/TT-BGTVT dated May 29, 2020 of the Minister of Transport.

In addition, the department also regularly monitors the operation of vehicles and drivers during the entire transportation process through journey monitoring devices and cameras; immediately reminds and corrects drivers when detecting vehicles continuously speeding, exceeding working hours of the day, operating on the wrong route, journey monitoring devices without signals and other traffic safety risks; receives and proposes solutions when incidents that cause traffic safety risks occur. Information on corrections and reminders when drivers violate must be recorded or updated in the unit's software for monitoring.

Recently, on January 8, 2024, the Department of Transport consecutively issued two documents: No. 99/SGTVT-VT on strengthening the exploitation and use of data on the journey monitoring device system to serve the management of transport activities in the area; No. 100/SGTVT-VT on rectifying and strengthening the management of transport business activities by car. In which, the Department Inspectorate; Transport Management Department and car transport business units must strengthen the exploitation and use of data from journey monitoring devices; monitor on the camera system to advise the Department Director to revoke badges, suspend operations of units and vehicles violating regulations...

The Department also requires specialized departments and passenger transport business units by car to regularly inspect and control vehicles and drivers, absolutely not to put vehicles that do not ensure technical safety and environmental protection, drivers that are not qualified, do not have journey monitoring devices, cameras or have them but they are not working into traffic. Organize inspections, summarize, evaluate experiences and have forms of handling for drivers who violate regulations on car transport business. At the same time, direct the Department's Inspectorate to strengthen monitoring, inspection and strict handling of violations through data from the journey monitoring system, especially cases of running the wrong transport route...