Society
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| A serious traffic accident occurred on the HCM Highway in Kon Tum province last Friday. The accident killed four people, including a HIV-virus carrier who exposed 35 others to the virus. — VNA/VNS Photo Cao Nguyên |
Viet Nam News
HÀ NỘI — Nearly 9,600 traffic accidents resulting in 4,134 deaths and 8,000 injuries were reported in Việt Nam in the first half of this year, according to National Committee for Road Safety.
The amount of accidents, deaths and injuried victims fell by 636, 229 and 1,004 respectively compared with those of the same period last year.
However, there were 23 serious traffic accidents that claimed a total of 81 deaths, 110 injuries and other asset losses.
According to the report released today by the road safety committee, the traffic fatality rate has reduced in 38 major cities and provinces across the country.
Particularly, 16 of the 38 provinces and cities saw the fatality rate drop up to 20 per cent. These provinces include Cà Mau, Cao Bằng, Điện Biên, Lào Cai, Tây Ninh, Kiên Giang and Quảng Ngãi.
Twenty-two localities in the country reported a traffic fatality increase, including Hà Nam, Gia Lai, Hậu An, Khánh Hòa, Hải Phòng, Yên Bái, An Giang and Quảng Trị.
The fatality rates in An Giang, Quảng Trị, Cần Thơ and Lai Châu are over 30 per cent.
Traffic jams are still a major problem, especially in major cities like Hà Nội and HCM City.
As many as 33 prolonged traffic jams (lasting over half an hour) were reported in the last six months nationwide, while 25 prolonged traffic jams were reported in the same period last year.
Police reportedly cracked down on 2.24 million traffic violations across the country in the first half of this year, collecting fines of VNĐ1.5 trillion (US$66 million)
Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình, who is also head of National Committee for Road Safety and who chaired a traffic review meeting today, said that despite efforts to curb traffic accidents and traffic jams, the public remains deeply concerned about the issues.
He also raised concerns about overloaded trucks, illegal passenger pick up/drop off of coaches and increased traffic jams.
He called on more drastic measures to tackle the problems.
Khuất Việt Hùng, vice head of the committee, said that out of 33 reported major traffic jams, 22 were caused after traffic accidents happened, three were caused by excessive number of vehicles on roads and the other eight were caused by other incidents on roads. — VNS
