HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has issued a directive ordering the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Transport and relevant agencies to take urgent actions to ensure road traffic safety.

The move came after a range of fatal traffic accidents recently, especially accidents related to transporting passengers by coach or bus, causing serious damage to people and property.

Drivers violating regulations on traffic safety, including speeding or running substandard vehicles for transporting passengers, were blamed as major causes of the accidents, he said.

A traffic accident occurred in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bằng in July 22 when a coach suddenly plunged into an abyss, reportedly killing four people and injuring 16 others. Another example was an accident in the central province of Quảng Nam in July 30 when a 16-seater coach crashed into a container truck, killing 13 people and injuring four others.

The common point of the two accidents was owners of the coaches failed to obey regulations on traffic safety. They already run the coaches without installing route monitoring devices as well as bus badges issued by authorised agencies.

Additionally, poor management of transport firms and authorised agencies were added to the situation, he said.

Phúc told the transport ministry to quickly re-check and add revise current regulations to improve bus and coach safety.

First, the ministry was tasked with adding regulations to force transport firms to equip seat belts for all seats.

A special kind of stamp to verify quality of coach and bus should be issued to help authorised agencies to distinguish coach and buses with other vehicles while they were running on roads, he said.

Second, the ministry was required to amend regulations on permitted speeds and safe distances for vehicles traveling on roads and also review speed limits for vehicles traveling in sloping roads and through residential areas, he added.

Third, the ministry must tighten inspections of transport companies’ activities throughout the country, he said.

In the meantime, the Ministry of Public Security was assigned to direct traffic police nation-wide to patrol 24 hours a day to inspect and deal with traffic violations on major national highways and sloping roads with high traffic density, he said.

The National Committee for Traffic Safety and People’s Committee of localities, where fatal traffic accidents occurred, were asked to work together to deal with transport firms’ violations related to the fatal traffic accidents in the first seven months of this year.

The latest statistics of the committee showed that traffic accidents killed 4,103 people and injured 7,027 others in the first six months of this year. —VNS