Deputy PM instructs urgent solutions to deal with accident hotspots

Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh chaired a meeting on August 28 of the National Traffic Safety Committee to look into the causes of recent serious traffic accidents and seek solutions to remove accident hotspots in the country’s roads.

Deputy PM Truong Hoa Binh speaking at the meeting (Photo: VGP)
Deputy PM Truong Hoa Binh speaking at the meeting (Photo: VGP)

According to the committee’s report, there were 9,170 traffic accidents in the eight-month period from December 15, 2019 to August 14, 2020, which claimed 4,342 lives and injured 6,727 others.

In comparison with the same period in 2019, the number of accidents was down 2,161 (19%), while the number of deaths reduced by 754 (14.8%) and that of injured victims decreased by 1,860 (21.6%).

However, several serious accidents have occurred since June, such as the July 26 crash in Quang Binh that killed 15 and injured 22, or the one on July 11 that claimed six lives, to name just a few.

Deputy PM Binh, who is chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, said the main cause behind the serious accidents is the lax management and lack of responsibility of transport businesses. He noted that he had not received any report on sanctions for vehicle owners or managers of transport businesses when their vehicles were involved in traffic accidents.

The Deputy PM also stressed the need to clarify the responsibilities of State management agencies at both central and local levels.

He required the Transport Ministry to report on the inspection of transport companies which have drivers involved in serious accidents since January last year.

Localities were urged to address infrastructure problems at accident hotspots on key national roads and those in dangerous terrains.

The Ministry of Public Security was instructed to maintain regular patrols at night to timely detect violations of trucks and coaches.

Deputy PM Binh also ordered cities and provinces to launch a campaign in September to crack down on violations of safety corridors along land routes.