QUẢNG BÌNH — The number of traffic accidents, as well as related deaths and injuries, in the central province of Quảng Bình has decreased thanks to drastic measures undertaken by provincial police since the beginning of the year, according to local authorities.

Senior lieutenant colonel Trần Đức Dương, head of the Traffic Police Division under the Quảng Bình Police, said that since the beginning of this year, the division asked the police to use technology to support their work, such as cameras, breathalysers, drug testing machines and speed guns.

Officers are regularly on patrol, waiting to catch any violations.

The division collaborated with concerned organisations to conduct inspection programmes.

In addition to the work by traffic police, the Quảng Bình Department of Transport’s inspectors also set up plans to check and punish violations related to road, railway and waterway safety, especially during the Lunar New Year festival, which fell at the beginning of February, and the extended festival season.

Decreasing numbers

Dương said that from December 16 last year to February 12 this year, the division fined more than 3,500 violators a total of VNĐ5.5 billion (US$237,000) and temporarily seized more than 1,000 vehicles of different kinds.

Hoàng Ngọc Dũng, chief inspector of the Quảng Bình Department of Transport, said that the inspectors fined nearly 50 violators a total of nearly VNĐ85 million ($3,600).  

“Thanks to drastic measures of all organisations, traffic accidents in the province in the two first months of the year decreased by half compared with the same period last year,” he said.

The decrease would motivate police to work harder to clamp down on traffic violations for the rest of the year, said Dũng. — VNS