>> Traffic accidents kill 288 during Tet
Most traffic accidents are caused by drivers’ lack of awareness, said Nguyen Van Thuan, head of The Ministry of Transport’s Traffic Safety Department.
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| Many traffic accidents due to simple lack of attention |
Accidents seem to increase every year despite efforts to increase road safety, Thuan explained.
These efforts have included new regulations, such as the helmet law, enacted in 2008, improved drivers’ licenses training and an upgrade to infrastructure, he said.
Despite all these measures, the country still reported 14,442 traffic accidents in 2010, leading to 11,449 fatalities and 10,633 injuries. This is an increase of 18.34% in accidents and 31.45% in traffic-related injuries from the year before.
Most often, it is inattention while driving that leads to these incidents, Thuan said.
He added that, in absence of visible traffic police, people tend to break traffic rules, not stopping at red lights, speeding through traffic and driving down the wrong side of the road.
Substandard infrastructure is another cause, according to Thuan. He cited the tragic example of the accident on Ghenh Bridge, which resulted in 6 deaths and 26 injuries.
There are still 10 bridges in Vietnam that share traffic with both trains and motor vehicles. He says this emphasises the necessity to make necessary upgrades.
More drastic measures are in store this year to heighten safety and mitigate the trend of rising traffic accidents, he said.
Measures may include improving the legal administration system in terms of traffic violations, and upgrading infrastructure.
Education will be a large part of this year’s traffic safety efforts, as well as stricter supervision over enforcement of traffic volations, he added.
Dantri/DTiNews has held an online referendum on the reasons for traffic accidents in the country during Tet holiday. The results collected from February 12-20 showed that 61% of readers blamed the accidents on people’s awareness.
