Why do so many traffic accidents occur on Highway 5 through Kim Thanh?

On average, there are over 2 traffic accidents per kilometer.

Recently, many tragic traffic accidents have occurred in Kim Thanh district. According to statistics from the Office of the Traffic Safety Committee of Hai Duong province, in the first 5 months of 2024, National Highway 5 through Hai Duong had a total of 69 traffic accidents and collisions, killing 13 people and injuring 45 people, an increase of 25 cases, a decrease of 6 deaths, and an increase of 20 injuries compared to the whole year of 2023. This is the national highway through Hai Duong with the most traffic accidents in the past 5 months. In Kim Thanh district alone, 31 accidents occurred (accounting for 44.9%), killing 6 people (accounting for 46.1%) and injuring 26 people (accounting for 57.8%).

National Highway 5 passing through Hai Duong is 44.1 km long, a vital traffic route connecting Hanoi and Hai Phong. Currently, the traffic volume on the route is about 60,000 vehicles converted per day/night, 4 times higher than the design volume. In 2022, Vietnam Infrastructure Development and Finance Investment Corporation (VIDIFI) will deploy a number of bid packages to repair the surface of National Highway 5 through Hai Duong from km 46 (through Hai Duong city) to km 76 (Kim Thanh district). By early June 2024, Vietnam Infrastructure Development and Finance Investment Corporation (VIDIFI) had completed repairing 27 km out of a total of 30 km through National Highway 5. Currently, the construction unit is repairing the remaining 3 km in Kim Thanh district.

Many reasons

Although it is also a locality with National Highway 5 passing through, in recent times, Kim Thanh has had more traffic accidents than other localities such as Cam Giang, Binh Giang, and Hai Duong City.

According to Major Bui Thanh Toan, an officer at the Nga Ba Hang Traffic Control Station, Traffic Police Department (Hai Duong Provincial Police), National Highway 5 passing through Kim Thanh District is the longest section with a length of 17.63 km. In Kim Thanh District, there are 10 key connection points, 77 village and commune roads connecting to National Highway 5. There are 15 open points on the route (of which only 7 points have traffic lights). Recently, the section of National Highway 5 passing through Kim Thanh District is under repair, which is also a potential cause of traffic accidents. The district has many container truck drivers living...

However, the main cause of the increase in traffic accidents is still due to the awareness of traffic participants. Because through the investigation and settlement of traffic accidents, it shows that more than 90% of the causes of traffic accidents are due to the awareness of traffic participants such as not paying attention to observe, changing lanes without ensuring safety, driving in the wrong direction...

The Provincial Traffic Safety Committee has pointed out 36 traffic infrastructure shortcomings on National Highway 5, of which 13 exist in Kim Thanh district alone, the most compared to other localities. Among these, the traffic organization plan at Pham Xa intersection, Tuan Viet commune is not suitable, during rush hour, the density of vehicles is high, collisions often occur, posing a potential risk of traffic accidents. Every day, many people in Tuan Viet commune have to go to school or work in the opposite direction on National Highway 5.

On May 30, at the site inspection of the section km 67+270-km 67+550, in Tuan Viet commune, the Road Construction and Maintenance Enterprise, under VIDIFI, the unit assigned to exploit, manage and maintain National Highway 5, representatives of the Provincial Traffic Safety Committee, the Provincial Traffic Police Department, the People's Committee of Tuan Viet commune and a number of related units proposed solutions to ensure traffic safety at this intersection. The majority of opinions agreed with the proposal of the People's Committee of Tuan Viet commune to widen the roadside by 2-3 m, install a median strip; install traffic lights...

Currently, Kim Thanh is implementing the Hanoi - Hai Phong railway feeder road construction project with a length of more than 4.2 km on the right side of National Highway 5 passing through the communes of Tuan Viet, Kim Xuyen, Phuc Thanh, Kim Lien. The project to invest in building an interchange connecting National Highway 17B with National Highway 5 via the Hanoi - Hai Phong railway. The investment in construction of the projects will contribute to solving traffic congestion and reducing traffic accidents on National Highway 5; conveniently connecting the traffic network of Kim Thanh district and neighboring districts.

While waiting for the above projects to be completed, there needs to be a plan to organize traffic on National Highway 5, especially the section through Kim Thanh district, to control traffic accidents.