"Three no's" to prevent alcohol on the road

On January 19, the Government Office issued Notice 22/TB-VPCP on the conclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang - Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee at the conference to review the work of ensuring traffic order and safety in 2023 and deploy tasks for 2024.

In particular, the Deputy Prime Minister requested to handle alcohol concentration violations according to the "three no's" motto: No forbidden zones - No exceptions - No holidays. Emphasizing the "three no's" motto is extremely necessary, especially in the context of Tet coming, spring coming.

In fact, even before Tet, many drunk drivers have been punished for violating traffic safety. According to statistics from the Traffic Police Department, in the 10 days of implementing the peak period of ensuring traffic order and safety before the Lunar New Year of Giap Thin 2024 (January 11-21), the authorities have handled 30,491 cases of alcohol concentration violations.

This figure for the whole year 2023 is 770,000 cases, 1.5 times higher than in 2022 and more than the total of the three years 2020 - 2022 combined.

The above figures show an alarming reality because it occurs in the context of regulations and sanctions for violations of alcohol concentration when participating in traffic that have come into effect with increased penalties.

Specifically, according to Decree 100/2019/ND-CP of the Government (effective from January 1, 2020), the highest penalty for car drivers violating alcohol concentration is up to 40 million VND and driver's license revocation for 24 months.

As for drivers of motorbikes, tractors, and specialized motorbikes, if they violate the most serious alcohol concentration, they will be fined from 6 to 8 million VND and have their driving license revoked for 22 to 24 months.

Drivers who violate alcohol concentration and cause accidents will be criminally prosecuted under different sanctions, depending on the severity.

Therefore, preventing traffic participants with alcohol in their bodies to reduce accidents is always the top priority in handling traffic safety violations of the police force.

This issue also receives widespread public support and agreement. Because if "drunkards" continue to drive, the peace on every road will be threatened.

Especially when Tet comes, spring comes, people have a bunch of reasons to invite each other to drink alcohol. And when you have already finished your glasses, tipsy and still get behind the wheel, not only is there no fun, but the danger of losing safety is near.

The consequences of these bottomless pitfalls are many serious accidents, causing many deaths or permanent disabilities, becoming a burden for families and society.

To create deterrence and help prevent people with alcohol levels in their bodies from participating in traffic, authorities need to strictly implement the "three no's" policy, especially for those working in the government system.

In 2023, hundreds of cases of alcohol concentration violators who were party members, cadres, civil servants, police, officers... were handled, not only according to Decree 100, but also according to the regulations of the agency or unit in charge of the violator because information about the violation will be sent to their agency or unit.

Some cases can be mentioned here, such as due to violating alcohol concentration while driving a car on the evening of September 22, 2023, the Captain of the Traffic Police Team of Go Cong District, Tien Giang Province was fined 35 million VND, had his driving license revoked for 23 months and was disciplined according to internal regulations of the police industry.

About a week earlier, the Secretary of a district Party Committee in Binh Thuan province was administratively fined and reported to his workplace for violating alcohol concentration while driving.

The above mentioned shows that the motto “No forbidden zones – No exceptions” has been and is being realized. However, to form the habit of “don’t drink and drive”, the authorities need to make constant efforts, not only during peak times to increase inspections and penalties; nor only set up checkpoints on major streets and roads.

In this aspect, the patrol and control plan also needs to be adjusted, supplemented, and covered, so that the drunkards do not "rejoice" because they have avoided the safety pin, and then repeat it next time.