HÀ NỘI ­– A great number of Hà Nội students violate traffic rules as they drive electric motorbikes, said a senior police official.

“Up to nearly 90 per cent of students driving electric motorbikes don’t wear helmets,” Colonel Đào Thanh Hải, deputy director of Hà Nội’s Police, said at a meeting last week to review the handling of traffic violations in the first half of the year.

Hải said he had never seen anywhere else in the country with such a great number of violations.

“For instance, when I went to Hải Phòng on a business trip, I hardly found any motorists or electric bicycle drivers not wearing helmets,” he said.

Driving an unregistered vehicle or disobeying traffic lights are also common types of violation, according to the city’s traffic police.

The police began to fine drivers of unregistered electric motorbikes across the country from July 1, but the situation has not improved much.

A leader of Hà Nội’s Traffic Police team No. 1 said many students in Hoàn Kiếm District drove electric motorbikes, most of which were not registered.

When the police increased inspections, many students drove through small lanes at peak hours to avoid being fined, he said.

The city’s traffic police said violations were also common among police officials.

Records of Hà Nội’s Traffic Police show up to 135 Hà Nội’s police officers and 381 officials from the Ministry of Public Security violated traffic rules from May 23 to June 19.

According to new traffic regulations, which will take effect on August 1, drivers of motorbikes, electric motorbikes or electric bicycles not wearing a helmet or wearing it improperly will be fined VNĐ100,000 to 200,00 (US$ 4.5-9).

Motorists who go through yellow and red lights will be fined VNĐ300,000 to 400,000 ($13-18). Unregistered electric motorbikes will be seized for seven days, in addition to a fine of VNĐ 300,000 to 400,000 ($13-18).

Electric motorbike accident

A 15-year-old female student died on Saturday morning when driving her new electric motorbike on Giải Phóng Street in Hà Nội.

Witnesses reportedly said she suddenly fell off her motorbike because she was not used to riding it. She was then run over by a passenger coach that was travelling in the same direction.

It is reported that her parents just bought her the motorbike as she was about to enroll in high school. – VNS