Vice Chairman of National Traffic Safety Committee Khuất Việt Hùng. — VNA/VNS Photo Văn Điệp

Vice-Chairman of National Traffic Safety Committee Khuất Việt Hùng talks with Sài gòn Giải phóng (Liberated Sài Gòn) newspaper about measures to curb traffic accidents.

What do you think about increased risk of traffic accidents?

As the COVID-19 pandemic is under control, socio-economic activities have returned to normal. Economic recovery, development and speed in all social activities will increase.

In that context, traffic accidents related to transport business vehicles rose but are still at a controllable level if compared to that of 2019. The number of accidents, deaths and injuries decreased compared to the previous year.

However, a number of particularly serious accidents that have occurred in the past few days are a matter of concern. Through initial assessment, these traffic accidents were mainly caused by the driver or vehicle owner's lack of awareness.

In the recent traffic accidents, many violations have been identified thanks to the journey monitoring device (black box), such as speeding or driving in the wrong direction.

According to Decree 10 on business and conditions for transport business by cars, the vehicle's black box device must store and transmit information including journey, speed, and driving time continuously to the database of the Directorate for Roads of Việt Nam.

Local transport departments will be given accounts and login codes to this database to monitor vehicle activity, detect and handle violations in real time, or extract data for handling.

It is fair to say that, before applying the journey monitoring device, at least several accidents every day were reported to involve vehicles that violated the speed limit. In the past, if on average, there were more than 10 violations per 1,000km, now there are only 0.92 violations. Obviously, the number of violations and the number of accidents decreased.

Regarding the warning function, because the number of vehicles operating on the road is very large, the responsibility first belongs to the transport enterprises, then the provincial Departments of Transport.

In fact, many businesses have well implemented vehicle control through the monitoring devices, and the Departments of Transport have also handled thousands of violations on speed and journey through the devices. However, the control may not be thorough.

Production, business activities and social life are resumed and recovering, leading to an increased risk of traffic accidents. Can you tell us about solutions the National Traffic Safety Committee has to deal with this risk?

The committee, its member units such as the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Public Security, and the local traffic safety boards will have drastic solutions to strictly implement the law on ensuring traffic safety. This time, the functional forces will strengthen, direct to the commune-level police to deploy inspection and tackle violations.

Starting from June 20, the Traffic Police Department (C08 - Ministry of Public Security) and local traffic police throughout the country will start implementing a three-month campaign to check and handle drinking driving, overspeeding and overloaded or oversized trucks.

This campaign is to implement the Prime Minister's dispatch on the observance of regulations on prevention and control of harmful effects of alcohol and beer and, based on the actual situation, requesting the re-establishment of traffic safety order in the new normal. Accordingly, the functional forces will focus on checking and handling on highways, national highways, provincial roads, and black spots where accidents often occur to promptly prevent, and deal with violations that pose high risks to serious traffic accidents. VNS