Illegal traffic signaling affects road users everyday. – VNA/VNS Photo Huy Hùng

HÀ NỘI  (VNS) — Slack regulation of the use of priority traffic horns and lights recently in Hà Nội is giving residents a headache.

Numerous kinds of lights and horns are being sold widely in markets, many of which imitate emergency vehicles. People can buy these lights or horns from VNĐ500,000 to VNĐ3 million (US$22.4-$134.6).

People are using these illegal devices to take priority in traffic at intersections and during rush hour.

On narrow roads or areas with construction work, citizen vehicles with these priority lights and horns are using them to get ahead of the normal traffic.

Often road users let vehicles using such emergency devices pass, thinking they are an ambulance, fire-engine or police vehicle.

Many taxis and motor tricycles are illegally equipped with illegal horns to allow them to drive faster through busy traffic.

Some cars have been equipped with light signals and horns that emulate police cars.

Road users are getting very annoyed, but don’t know who to complain to.

“I always let vehicles with priority lights and horns pass, but sometimes I do not recognise which are legal vehicles because they are always behind me,” said Nguyễn Hải Anh, a road user.

“Sometimes, the horn makes me start and quickly move out of the way. It risks causing a traffic accident,” he added. 

It is easy to buy these priority traffic devices in Hà Nội’s Hoàng Hoa Thám, Thịnh Yên, and Huế streets, or at giời (open air) markets.

Tuổi Trẻ (Youth) newspaper reports that an online trader living in the northern province of Bắc Ninh has sold these products for many years and supplies Hà Nội and other northern provinces.

He has set up a webpage to advertise his goods to customers, the newspaper says.

He told the newspaper that he had three sets of emergency-type lights that sell best, costing from VNĐ400,000-VNĐ1.2 million each (US$17.9-$53.8).

All of the products are imported from China. The customer can get a discount for bulk orders, and each product is guaranteed for at least three months after purchase, according to the trader.

Lê Mạnh Dũng, a taxi driver, said that authorities should strictly punish those caught using these priority vehicle equipment illegally.

Nguyễn Xuân Ngọc, an official from the Hà Nội Market Management Department, told the newspaper that these products were managed by the police.

Lawyer Phan Thị Lam Hồng, head of Đông Hà Nội Law Ltd, said the Market Management Department was responsible for the management of these products.

Col Đào Vịnh Thắng, head of the Traffic Police Office under Hà Nội Police, said the police had seized many such illegal devices and dealt with violators strictly.

The relevant agencies should join hands with the police to tackle the use of illegal priority vehicle devices and manage the import, production and sale of these products, Thắng said.

According to road traffic law, each illegal use of emergency vehicle equipment can be fined VND600,000-800,000 (US$26.6-35.5). — VNS

GLOSSARY

Slack regulation of the use of priority traffic horns and lights recently in Hà Nội is giving residents a headache.

If there is slack regulation, laws are not kept very strictly.

When something is a priority it must be treated as the most important thing to do.

Numerous kinds of lights and horns are being sold widely in markets, many of which imitate emergency vehicles. People can buy these lights or horns from VNĐ500,000 to VNĐ3 million (US$22.4-$134.6).

To imitate emergency vehicles means to act like them.

People are using these illegal devices to take priority in traffic at intersections and during rush hour.

Illegal devices are things that are against the law to have and to use.

Intersections are places where different roads cross one another.

Rush hour is the time of day when there is the most traffic. Most cities around the word have a morning rush hour when people are all travelling to their jobs at the same time and an afternoon rush hour when they are all travelling home from work at the same time.

Many taxis and motor tricycles are illegally equipped with illegal horns to allow them to drive faster through busy traffic.

Tricycles are vehicles with three wheels.

Some cars have been equipped with light signals and horns that emulate police cars.

Emulate means much the same as imitate.

Road users are getting very annoyed, but don’t know who to complain to.

To get annoyed means to get cross.

To complain means to tell someone of things you are not happy about.

Tuổi Trẻ (Youth) newspaper reported that an online trader living in the northern province of Bắc Ninh has sold these products for many years and supplies Hà Nội and other northern provinces.

A online trader is someone who uses the Internet to buy and sell things.

He has set up a webpage to advertise his goods to customers, the newspper said.

A webpage is a page on an Internet site.

Goods are things that people use, buy and sell.

All of the products are imported from China.

To import means to buy things from another country and bring them into your country.

The customer can get a discount for bulk orders, and each product is guaranteed for at least three months after purchase, he said.

A discount is a special, cheaper price.

Bulk orders are made when people ask to buy lots of the same thing.

If a product is guaranteed there is a promise that it will be good enough and an arrangement to replace it, or fix it, if it is not.

A purchase, in this case, is an act of buying.

Col Đào Vịnh Thắng, head of the Traffic Police Office under Hà Nội Police, said the police have seized many such illegal devices and dealt with violators strictly.

Violators are people who break laws.

The relevant agencies should join hands with the police to tackle the use of illegal priority vehicle devices and manage the import, production and sale of these products, Thắng said.

Relevant agencies are those that, in this case, would deal with the problem of illegal devices.

WORKSHEET

Find words that mean the following in the Word Search:

1. Against the law.
2. Buying something from another country.
3. The punishment for using an emergency traffic horn illegally.
4. A place where two roads meet.
5. The type of vehicle Lê Mạnh Dũng drives.

ANSWERS:

© Duncan Guy/Learn the News/ Viet Nam News 2016

1. Illegal; 2. Importing; 3. Fine; 4. Intersection; 5. Taxi.