For every 1,000 Vietnamese people, 770 own motorbikes.

The above data was mentioned by Mr. Tran Huu Minh, Chief of Office of the National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC) at the International Conference "Motorcycle Traffic Safety: Challenges and Lessons Learned", held on the morning of November 4.

Many families with cars still keep motorbikes.

Mr. Tran Huu Minh said that Vietnam is a country with a high rate of motorbike ownership and use.

"By September 2024, there were 77 million registered motorbikes, bringing the motorbike ownership rate per 1,000 people to 770 motorbikes, among the highest in the world. In the context of specific construction planning and inadequate traffic infrastructure, the advantages of motorbikes such as high speed, transport capacity, flexibility, mobility, low operating costs... are promoted many times over other means of transport," Mr. Minh cited the data.

Mr. Tran Huu Minh, Chief of Office of National Traffic Safety Committee.

According to Mr. Minh, despite many plans for tighter management and restrictions, motorbikes are still the means of transportation for the majority of Vietnamese people, accounting for 85-90% of traffic on the road and involved in 60-70% of traffic accidents.

The Chief of Office of the National Traffic Safety Committee informed that recent studies show that motorbikes continue to increase, even the majority of households that can afford to own a car still keep motorbikes to meet certain goals in life.

Besides the achievements in ensuring traffic safety for motorbike riders, Mr. Minh said that there are still gaps and inadequacies that in the coming time, the authorities should prioritize to have better solutions.

" First, if we are not careful, Vietnam will fall into a state of collision risk due to mechanization. The 16-18 age group can legally drive motorbikes with a capacity of less than 50cc, while this group still lacks knowledge and especially lacks driving skills. The phenomenon of people under 16 years old driving two-wheeled vehicles and getting into traffic accidents is still complicated, " said the Chief of Office of the National Traffic Safety Committee.

Next, according to Mr. Minh, some traffic accidents occurred due to violations of very basic traffic rules such as not giving way when going from a side road to a main road, driving into a blind spot, turning without observing, driving on the wrong side of the road... showing that the content in training and testing for motorbike drivers needs to be further strengthened.

In addition, shortcomings in land use planning, construction standards, design standards... lead to mixed traffic and difficulty in separating lanes for motorbikes.

" The motorcycle lane standards and design guidelines for dedicated motorcycle lanes have only been issued as reference guidelines, and have not been widely applied. If well managed, traffic accidents for motorcyclists will be greatly reduced, " Mr. Tran Huu Minh analyzed.

Despite being a bright spot in implementing the policy of wearing helmets for motorcyclists, Mr. Minh said that Vietnam still does not have regulations to punish cases of not wearing helmets for children under 6 years old when riding motorbikes; there are no standards for motorbike helmets for children under 6 years old.

Besides, the rate of children wearing helmets when riding motorbikes and scooters is still low because some parents do not have proper and complete awareness about helmets.

Another issue mentioned by the representative of the National Traffic Safety Committee is the weakness in urban space planning and traffic infrastructure for motorbikes, traffic organization, limited connection between motorbikes and other public transport modes... creating great disadvantages for public transport and creating advantages for motorbikes.

This leads to the situation where people use motorbikes for long trips, with large, complex traffic, high traffic speeds, including regular and irregular trips... From there, many traffic accidents occur on national highways.

Students' understanding of traffic safety laws is almost zero.

Presenting a paper at the workshop, Major General Nguyen Van Trung, Director of the Traffic Police Department ( Ministry of Public Security ), said that through analyzing the causes of traffic accidents in the first 10 months of 2024, it showed that motorbikes still accounted for 60% of the total number of vehicles causing accidents.

" To prevent motorbikes from causing traffic accidents, the traffic police have focused on opening many high points to handle the situation. However, the main thing is that the traffic awareness of motorbike drivers needs to be improved, " said Major General Nguyen Van Trung.

Major General Nguyen Van Trung, Director of Traffic Police Department (Ministry of Public Security).

To overcome the limitations in motorbike management, Major General Nguyen Van Trung informed that in the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety, the presiding agency has proposed a number of new regulations.

Accordingly, modernizing the traffic command center; ensuring connection and sharing of database on road traffic order and safety among relevant State management agencies. This is a new point in the State's policy on ensuring road traffic order and safety.

Along with that are regulations on the construction and application of information technology in State management of security, order, and road traffic safety, from the management of technical safety of vehicles, vehicle operations to the management of drivers, especially the management of law compliance of vehicle drivers, such as points of driving licenses...

Policy on developing public transport, limiting personal transport, prioritizing the conversion of vehicles using fossil fuels to vehicles using electricity, green energy, environmentally friendly, and infrastructure providing clean energy.

One of the important solutions mentioned by the Director of the Traffic Police Department is the policy ofeducating knowledge of laws on road traffic safety and order, and instructing students on safe motorbike driving skills at high schools and vocational training institutions.

" Currently, the whole country has about 4 million children and students aged 16-18, the conditions and reality of them using motorbikes are very common. However, their understanding of traffic safety laws is almost zero ," Major General Nguyen Van Trung stated the reality.

Major General Nguyen Van Trung informed that the traffic police force is focusing on ensuring safety for students, handling about 80,000 violations in just one peak period.

However, the Director of the Traffic Police Department said that this is a vulnerable group, so guidance and education should be the main focus when dealing with them.

" If families, schools and society do not get involved, no functional unit can handle it. These issues need communication and guidance. When there are systematic solutions, there will be a generation of students who obey traffic laws better, reducing accidents, " Major General Nguyen Van Trung emphasized.

English

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/cu-1-000-nguoi-viet-co-770-nguoi-so-huu-xe-may-ar905471.html