A man caught driving under the influence of alcohol faces penalties in Hà Nội. —VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister Trần Lưu Quang on Tuesday called for stricter penalties on drink driving and speeding violations at the launch ceremony of the Traffic Safety Year 2024 in Hà Nội.

The National Traffic Safety Committee and the Hà Nội People’s Committee on Tuesday began the Traffic Safety Year 2024 outlining an intensive campaign to ensure safety and order on the roads for the coming Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday and spring festivals.

Quang said the theme of the 2024 Traffic Safety Year is “to comply with the laws for safety traffic culture”.

The aim is to raise public awareness on complying with traffic laws and building a safe traffic culture, minimising the number of traffic accidents, deaths and injuries while reducing congestion at major traffic intersections and cities, he said.

He urged the police to strictly handle people driving under the influence of alcohol, speed violations, vehicles that carry overloaded goods and do not ensure technical safety as well as drivers not wearing helmets.

He also called on everyone including public employees, civil servants, teachers and parents to act as role models in following the traffic regulations.

Chairing a teleconference with 63 provinces and cities on reviewing traffic safety tasks in 2023 and map out orientations for 2024 on the same day, Deputy Quang noted that local authorities must step up traffic patrol on Lunar New Year holiday because both the number of vehicles and travel demand will increase.

According to Khuất Việt Hùng, vice chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, in 2023, the number of traffic accidents continued to drop compared to the previous year.

From December 15, 2022 to December 14, 2023, the whole country reported over 22,000 traffic accidents, causing 11,600 fatalities and injuring nearly 15,300 people.

Police have launched intensive campaigns to crack down on drink driving with more than 770,000 violations punished, accounting for 23.04 per cent of total violations.

Many of those caught driving while drunk were public employees, civil servants and officers of the armed forces, he told the conference.

He cited a report from the World Health Organization and the United Nations General Assembly’s standing agency on traffic safety, which says that Việt Nam is one of 45 out of 193 UN member countries with a high rate of traffic safety problems.

The rate of deaths due to road traffic accidents in Việt Nam decreased by over 30 per cent in the 2011-20 period.

In 2023, 33 provinces and centrally run cities witnessed drops in the number of traffic accident deaths including Thừa Thiên-Huế, Lai Châu, Kiên Giang, Hà Tĩnh, Bình Dương, Bình Phước, Đồng Nai, Hòa Bình, Đà Nẵng, Bến Tre and Điện Biên.

A total of 28 localities still recorded over 30 per cent increases in traffic deaths, namely Hưng Yên, Lạng Sơn, Kon Tum, Trà Vinh, Sơn La, Nam Định, Long An, Phú Thọ, Hải Phòng, Thanh Hóa, Vĩnh Phúc and Tây Ninh.

Among these, Long An, Phú Thọ, Hải Phòng, Thanh Hóa, Vĩnh Phúc and Tây Ninh reported increases of over 80 per cent compared to 2022.

Hùng noted that a series of serious traffic accidents occurred in 2023 while traffic congestion tended to be on the rise in large localities.

At the conference, Hà Nội’s authorities revealed that the city has removed 15 congestion locations but traffic jam is still reported mainly due to a high number of vehicles, lack of public awareness and barriers of construction projects encroaching narrow roadways.

Vice chairman of HCM City People’s Committee Bùi Xuân Cường said the city recorded sharp declines in the number of traffic accidents, accident deaths and injuries. Twenty-four congestion spots were handled including two hot spots at Tân Sơn Nhất Airport and Cát Lái Port. — VNS

​