Old vehicles threaten tourist safety in Lang Biang

The Lam Dong Department of Transport has raised warnings about the use of outdated vehicles to transport tourists at Lang Biang Tourist Site.

The Lam Dong Department of Transport has raised warnings about the use of outdated vehicles to transport tourists at Lang Biang Tourist Site.

   

Old cars used at Lang Biang site.

At Lang Biang Tourism Site, old vehicles are used to carry tourists from the mountain foot to Radar viewpoint, one of the peaks of Lang Biang Mountain for sightseeing. From there, the tourists can see Da Lat City and a part of Lac Duong District. This five-kilometre road includes mountain passes and sharp bends.

One car previously ran out of petrol mid-way and the brakes failed, causing panic among the tourists. Luckily, no one was hurt.

On December 13, the Department of Transport announced that they had submitted reports to Lam Dong People's Committee. 54 out of 65 UAZ vans are too outdated to be used to transport tourists. The department has warned the managers many times about this issue but Lam Dong Tourist JSC and the managers of Lang Biang Tourist Site failed to comply, using various excuses to not upgrade to safer vehicles.

Since the cars are too old and have been in use for a long time, the department then asked Lam Dong People's Committee to suspend the tourist transportation at Lang Biang Tourist Site and asked Lam Dong Tourist JSC to follow procedures to apply for passenger car badges for their fleet following new regulations.

Many experts have expressed their approval of the decision by the Department of Transport. Safety is even more important as Lang Biang has many mountain passes and rough terrain.