In an attempt to discourage illegal bike racers, Ho Chi Minh City wants to impose a tough penalty on them by confiscating vehicles immediately, even those of first time offenders.
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| A delegate speaks at the meeting held yesterday by the HCMC People's Council to discuss measures for traffic safety Photo: Tuoi Tre |
The proposal was supported by a resolution of the city People’s Council at its meeting yesterday where they discussed measures to improve the traffic safety in the city in 2012.
The resolution was passed with 100 percent of votes from the delegates, who unanimously agreed that the heavy penalty should be imposed on those who committed one of the following nine serious traffic violations.
These violations include: riding motorbikes parallel with 3 or more vehicles; sounding the horn continuously while riding at top speed in crowded areas; riding in groups causing hindrances to other vehicles; riding while dragging a foot or two feet or anything else on the ground; riding with two hands not holding the handlebars; changing riders while riding; deliberately running in a zigzag manner; riding with only one wheel (for 2-wheel vehicles) or two wheels (for 3-wheel vehicles) on the ground; and riding in groups of at least 2 vehicles at high speeds.
USD24 fee/day for detained vehicles
While waiting for the NA and Government’s approval of the confiscation of illegal racing vehicles, the city People’s Council also passed a resolution to agree to the People’s Committee’s decision to raise the storage fee for detained racing vehicles to VND500,000 (USD24) per vehicle per day, about 83 times higher than the current rate of VND6,000.
The decision will take effect on March 11, 2012, VnExpress newswire reported.
Talking with Tuoi Tre, Ngo Minh Hong, director of the city’s Justice Department, said the People’s Council’s resolution on raising the fee was within its authority and would not face any legal troubles.
All those attending the meeting agreed that such heavy penalties were necessary to discourage illegal racers and other violators of traffic rules. They hope that these measures will improve traffic safety and reduce traffic accidents, which last year killed 842 people and injured 461 others, as reported by the city authorities.
Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the meeting, deputy director of the city Police Department, Ngo Minh Chau, said following confiscation approval, the vehicle would be destroyed.
Traffic fee proposed for personal vehicle users
The HCMC People’s Committee also proposed that the National Assembly and Government allow it to set up a plan to levy a traffic fee on users of personal vehicles to limit personal vehicle use and ease congestion.
The city had about 5.6 million personal vehicles, including 5 million motorbikes, by the end of January 2012. The annual growth of those vehicles in 2011 was 13 percent, or 637,000 vehicles, according to the city Road Traffic Infrastructure Exploitation Department.
Such an increase has worsened the overload of the city’s traffic system and caused more traffic jams, especially during rush hour, the department said.