Hanoi and HCM City have seen improvements in the traffic situation with less traffic jams and accidents, said Transport Minister Dinh La Thang.
At a report at the on-going 4th session of the 13th National Assembly, Minster Thang said that currently Hanoi was home to 67 regular traffic jam hotspots, down 46% against late 2010.
In the first nine months of this year, HCM City witnessed only two traffic jams which lasted more than 30 minutes, down from 22 cases during the same period of 2011.
According to the minister, the decision to change working hours applied in 12 districts of Hanoi had helped to ease traffic jams both during the morning and afternoon peak hours.
However, Thang noted that, some key traffic spots still saw jams due to increase of vehicles and bad traffic awareness by road users.
Between January and September this year, the country saw over 23,000 traffic accidents, killing nearly 7,000 people and injuring more than 25,000. Compared to the same period of last year, the number of traffic jams had decreased 9,360 and deaths due to road accidents had dropped by 1,502.
Despite the fall in traffic violations, the number of traffic-related fatalities and injuries remain high. One of the major causes for traffic accidents is drinking while drunk, speeding and using the wrong lanes, Thang said.
Traffic accidents caused 11,929 deaths and 9,290 injuries per year in Vietnam, Thang said earlier, emphasising that the Ministry of Transport hoped to cut the numbers of traffic accidents accident victims by 5-10% per year, as well as reduce the number traffic jams lasting over 30 minutes in Hanoi and HCM City.
