HCM City may ban run-down motorbikes

HCM CITY — Many old motorcycles will go off HCM City's roads when a limit on their life span to be recommended soon by the police is approved by authorities.

The People's Committee recently instructed the police to work with other agencies to draft regulations on the maximum life span, including of electric motorcycles.

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Tran Thanh Tra, deputy head of the Road and Railway Traffic Police Division (PC67), said this was aimed at reducing road accidents and pollution caused by old vehicles.

He said that Viet Nam already had regulations on the life of trucks and buses, and it was time to regulate for motorcycles.

The new regulations would help the police check the use of xe mu (obsolete vehicles without lamps, horns, or even number plates) and vehicles of unclear origin,which were often blamed for causing accidents, he said.

"We have much difficulty with accidents and other hassles caused by old motorcycles."

He promised the new regulations would be drafted carefully, reasonable and logical, and widely acceptable.

Dr Pham Xuan Mai of the HCM City Technology University said the maximum life span should not be in terms of age but in distance travelled.

Duong Hong Thanh, deputy director of the city's Department of Transport, said the important thing was to reduce emissions from old bikes and not regulate their life span.

Nghi Cam Tuong, who has been a xe om (taxi motorbike) driver for 20 years, said the maximum life of motorbikes should not be regulated since many poor people use them for their livelihoods.

Deputy Minister of Transport Le Manh Hung concurred, but said this meant the regulation should only be passed after careful research. — VNS