The implementation of Decree 168 has helped raise people's awareness when participating in traffic.

After nearly a month of implementation, the Decree has received attention, support and high appreciation from public opinion, and is expected to contribute to creating strong changes in the management of road traffic order and safety and raising awareness of law compliance in the community.

According to a report from the General Statistics Office, in 2024, there were 23,484 traffic accidents nationwide, killing 10,944 people and injuring 17,342. Compared to 2023, the number of traffic accidents in 2024 increased by 0.7%; the number of deaths decreased by 7.7% and the number of injuries increased by 4.2%.

On average, every day, there are 64 traffic accidents nationwide, killing 30 people and injuring 47. According to the Traffic Police Department ( Ministry of Public Security ), failure to comply with traffic rules is the main cause of traffic accidents.

To improve the effectiveness of the enforcement of the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety, on December 26, 2024, the Prime Minister issued Decree No. 168/2024/ND-CP on administrative sanctions for violations in the field of road traffic, deduction of points, and restoration of driving license points (hereinafter referred to as Decree 168).

The new and notable point of Decree 168 is to focus on strictly handling intentional violations that show disregard for the law by traffic participants and are the cause of many serious traffic accidents that have occurred in recent times, such as: Not obeying traffic light signals; speeding; going in the wrong direction; entering prohibited roads and prohibited areas; reversing, turning around, going in the wrong direction on the highway; zigzagging; scattering sharp objects, etc.

Specifically, Decree 168 stipulates increasing fines for violations; deducting driving license points for specific violations; and revoking driving licenses for serious violations.

For example, for drivers who do not comply with traffic light signals, the fine has been increased from 4-6 million VND to 18-20 million VND. Some acts such as transporting goods on a vehicle without securing them; obstructing or not complying with the request for inspection and control by law enforcement officers; not following the instructions of traffic controllers... will have fines 3-30 times higher than the fines under the old regulations.

In fact, in recent times, the dissemination and propaganda of laws, as well as the punishment of violations of road traffic regulations, have been implemented. However, because the penalties are still light and lack deterrence, this has led to a situation of "lawlessness". Therefore, many opinions have proposed that there should be strong enough sanctions to force traffic participants to comply if they do not want to suffer economic losses.

It is important to emphasize that increasing the level of penalties is aimed at raising awareness of traffic law compliance in the community, thereby gradually reducing accidents and congestion, and contributing to maintaining traffic order and safety. Research results in many countries show that when strict measures are applied, the rate of traffic violators can be reduced by 65-90%.

In the initial implementation period, the new points of Decree 168, especially the sharp increase in administrative fines, have received special attention from the public. The positive point is that the awareness of traffic participants has gradually improved. Many people who have the habit of running red lights said that they have strictly followed traffic light signals.

Traffic order in big cities has changed positively. Typically, in Hanoi, key traffic intersections, which used to be frequently congested, even out of control due to traffic participants deliberately overtaking when the light was red, such as Le Van Luong, Thai Ha, Lang Ha, Lang Road, Nguyen Trai... have now seen significant improvements. People have voluntarily stopped their vehicles at red lights, even when there is no traffic police present.

Even individuals who show signs of encroaching on lanes, crossing lines, or driving on sidewalks are reminded by traffic participants. Public opinion highly appreciates the necessity of issuing Decree 168 to ensure deterrence and raise awareness of traffic law compliance in society. Because if individuals strictly follow traffic rules, it will create a safe traffic environment.

The sharp increase in administrative fines for traffic violations also makes some people wonder about the large fines compared to the monthly income of workers. However, if viewed from the perspective that each individual is conscious of obeying the law, driving on the right side of the road, not speeding, recklessly overtaking, running red lights, etc., then they will not be punished.

Only those who deliberately violate and disregard the law need to self-criticize and voluntarily adjust their behavior if they do not want to suffer the consequences. From this, it can be seen that increasing the fine level can be considered an effective preventive measure, contributing to maintaining traffic discipline. On the other hand, the fines for violations are paid into the state budget and used in accordance with the law. Allocating a percentage of the fine amount to a number of forces is to improve the material and technical facilities for ensuring traffic order and safety.

However, hostile forces have exploited conflicting opinions about Decree 168 to sabotage our Party and State. A typical example is the terrorist organization Viet Tan, which has demonstrated this by regularly posting content that distorts and defames Decree 168.

Specifically, this organization blatantly spread fabricated information that increasing fines for traffic violations is “sucking the blood of the people”; deliberately slandering the Decree that “many people will fall into poverty after just one traffic violation”, inciting and dividing the people from the government with arguments that “the Communist Party is “humane” in fighting corruption, but cruel in treating people”; distorting that high fines will create negativity between violators and traffic police.

Not only that, the subjects also took advantage of the fact that some traffic lights were faulty and signs were inadequate to falsely propagate that this was a trick of the police to "set traps to collect money from people", forcing people into violations.

Faced with the increasing travel demand of people at the end of the year, causing traffic in big cities to be always crowded, the subjects immediately distorted and attributed the implementation of Decree 168 to increasing congestion.

Are these people trying to encourage people to go their separate ways, inciting people to violate the law, causing traffic chaos and increasing accidents?

More seriously, hostile forces also distort the revocation of driving licenses and confiscation of violating vehicles as violations of human rights, affecting

people's right to life and livelihood, despite the fact that many countries in the world also apply this measure. They also distort the mobilization of people to monitor and report information about violations to the authorities as the government encouraging "struggles" and "purges" in society, while this is the people's exercise of their right to mastery and demonstrate their civic responsibility to build an increasingly better and more civilized society.

However, these subjects still deliberately criticize the regime, defame the Party and the State, claiming that "a dictatorship under the Party treats the people like that" to incite conflicts between the people and law enforcement agencies, demanding that the State abolish Decree 168. Obviously, these arguments aim to incite people to oppose the government, causing social instability.

It is necessary to see that a new regulation issued and implemented in practice will initially cause disruption to the habits of many people, which may give rise to concerns in public opinion. As before, the regulation requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets when participating in traffic was heavily criticized and attacked by some people. However, after a period of implementation, people have realized that this regulation is a way to protect their lives and health, so they voluntarily comply with it and it has now become a necessary thing for traffic participants. Therefore, opinions expressing concerns about Decree 168 are also completely normal. People will need time to get used to it, gradually changing their awareness and behavior.

At the same time, it is an undeniable fact that the disregard for traffic laws by a segment of the population has left serious consequences for social order and safety, causing many families to fall into separation, broken homes, and ruined homes. Therefore, the promulgation of Decree 168 with stricter and more stringent regulations is necessary to contribute to establishing a civilized traffic lifestyle.

In the coming time, to ensure the Decree is effective and efficient, the dissemination of information to all classes of people needs to continue to be strengthened with many diverse forms, suitable for different subjects, focusing on exploiting the advantages of social networks. At the same time, the authorities also need to improve traffic infrastructure, develop public transport networks to help reduce the pressure of personal vehicles.

The shortcomings in traffic signs that cause difficulties for people need to be resolved soon. According to information from the Traffic Police Department, this unit has issued a document directing local police to coordinate with relevant agencies to review and repair traffic lights.

In cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, authorities have quickly installed and adjusted traffic signs to create favorable conditions for people participating in traffic. In addition, during the process of making fines, the force in charge of traffic lights will coordinate with traffic police at checkpoints, extract cameras, images of the driver's violations, and directly view the progress of the violation and the traffic lights at that time to ensure transparent and correct penalties.

Along with strict legal regulations, raising people's awareness and trust in the policies of the Party and State is an important key for a policy to be effective in practice.

People have the right to contribute constructive opinions to help improve legal regulations. However, each individual also needs to be alert to the false and distorted arguments of destructive and extremist elements, and not let themselves be influenced into negative actions and statements that affect social order and security and the sustainable development of the country.

According to nhandan.vn