Traffic accidents fall in City

The scene of a traffic accident after a truck collided with a motorbike on National Highway 1A near Tan Tao Ward, Binh Tan District in HCM City in late April. The number of accidents caused by careless driving and speeding in the city during the first half of the year has reportedly decreased over the same period last year. — VNA/VNS Photo The Vinh

HCM CITY — Fewer traffic accidents occurred during the first six months of the year compared with the same period last year, according to the city's Traffic Safety Board.

The number of accidents, fatalities and injuries fell by 152, 117 and 119, respectively, compared to the same period last year, according to a report released last week at a conference on traffic safety.

Land-traffic accidents accounted for 336 of the total number of 342 traffic accidents, killing 300 and injuring 143. There were three fatalities associated with waterway and railway accidents.

The report said that there were two major traffic jams lasting more than 30 minutes, compared with 24 during the same period last year.

No illegal street motorbike races were reported, although groups of motorbikes were sometimes caught zigzagging across streets.

In the first half of this year, police stopped and dispersed 11 groups of motorcyclists (compared with 45 groups during the same period last year), seizing more than 4,000 motorbikes.

Police took several measures, including an increase in street patrols, to prevent illegal motorbike racing, said Nguyen Ngoc Tuong, deputy head of the city's Traffic Safety Board.

Deputy PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc, chairman of the Viet Nam National Committee for Traffic Safety, praised HCM City as one of the seven provinces and cities across the country that had taken strong measures to curb traffic problems in the first six months of this year.

More than 4,700 people were killed and 19,600 others injured in traffic accidents across the country in the first six month of the year, according to the Ministry of Public Security. — VNS