Respecting the law, even when stopping at red lights, is necessary to build a civilized and safe society.
On the evening of January 5, millions of Vietnamese people took to the streets to celebrate the ASEAN Cup championship of the Vietnamese football team. Along with the colorful flags and the bustling atmosphere of tens of thousands of fans, the impressive thing in many cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City is that everyone stops their vehicles at red lights, obeying the traffic regulations of the police force. It is very possible that people already know that according to Decree 168, which will take effect from January 1, 2025, the act of running a red light will be fined a very high amount, up to 20 million VND for cars and 6 million VND for motorbikes.
The law coming into effect with deterrent penalties has immediately created positive changes. The people's strict compliance with traffic lights has left behind civilized images, the roads are not jammed or congested for long periods of time even though there are thousands of motorbikes on the road like before.
In recent days, the sharp increase in fines for administrative violations of traffic safety has attracted many different opinions. Some people are concerned about the large fines for violations compared to the monthly income of workers. There are even bad people who distort and spread false information that the increase in fines is to take advantage of...
Reality shows that the main cause of traffic accidents is due to drivers not obeying traffic rules.
According to statistics from the Traffic Police Department, Ministry of Public Security, in 2024, there were 21,532 road traffic accidents nationwide, killing 9,954 people and injuring 16,044 people. Of the accidents, 3,065 were caused by drivers driving in the wrong direction, on the wrong side of the road, or in the wrong lane, killing 1,423 people and injuring 2,764 people. There were 360 accidents caused by drivers not obeying traffic lights (running red lights), killing 122 people, injuring 301 people, and 143 accidents caused by vehicles going in the wrong direction, killing 38 people, injuring 141 people...
The same is true in Hai Duong, typically on National Highway 5 - the national highway with the most traffic accidents in the province, through investigation and settlement of traffic accidents, it is shown that more than 90% of the causes of traffic accidents are due to traffic participants not paying attention, changing lanes unsafely, driving in the wrong direction... However, the situation of people riding motorbikes in the wrong direction, container trucks, and trucks parking illegally on this route still occurs frequently and has not been completely handled.
Disregard for traffic safety laws is also the cause of most of the particularly serious accidents. Most recently, on December 31, 2024, a person with an alcohol concentration driving a car suddenly crashed into a funeral pavilion on the road in Ke Sat town (Binh Giang, Hai Duong), injuring 5 people.
According to Decree 168, there are 3 groups of behaviors that increase the fine level: violating state management order; intentionally violating and damaging traffic culture; and behaviors causing traffic accidents.
When there is still a situation where traffic participants do not strictly comply with the law, are "immune to the law" because the fines are light, not deterrent enough and awareness is not high, it is necessary to increase the fines for intentional violations with the most important purpose of preventing and minimizing accidents.
Along with increasing the level of penalties, increasing the application of technology, modern means and transparency in handling traffic safety violations will help law enforcement become more strict and civilized.
HOANG LONG