"Decree 168 raises awareness of compliance among traffic participants"

According to the Traffic Police Department ( Ministry of Public Security ), since Decree 168/2024 took effect, the traffic order and safety situation across the country has had many clear changes, traffic accidents have decreased in all 3 criteria, traffic has become more orderly... The image of people queuing up to wait for traffic lights, driving in the correct lane on key routes is becoming more and more common.

To better understand the initial results and difficulties and obstacles affecting the implementation of Decree 168/2024, Dan Tri reporter had an interview with Colonel Pham Quang Huy, Deputy Director of the Traffic Police Department (Ministry of Public Security).

- On December 26, 2024, the Government issued Decree No. 168/2024/ND-CP regulating administrative sanctions for violations of traffic order and safety in the field of road traffic; deduction of points and restoration of driving license points (referred to as Decree 168/2024).

After the first days of implementation, this decree has had positive impacts on the awareness of traffic participants in complying with the law on traffic order and safety, and has also revealed a number of problems regarding the current status of traffic organization, traffic infrastructure, traffic volume and infrastructure planning.

In recent years, the work of ensuring traffic order and safety has received attention and drastic direction from the Party, State and Ministry of Public Security through many important policies and solutions.

Thereby, the work of ensuring traffic order and safety has achieved certain results, the traffic order and safety situation has had positive changes, traffic accidents have been controlled, traffic congestion in big cities has been gradually overcome, ensuring smooth traffic and absolute safety for important national events, effectively serving socio -economic development.

However, the above positive changes are not really sustainable. Awareness of compliance with traffic laws has changed but not fundamentally. The number of violations of laws on traffic order and safety is still high.

For example, from 2020 to 2024, traffic police nationwide have handled more than 17 million cases of traffic order and safety violations; the number of cases and deaths due to traffic accidents has decreased but is still at a high level.

Specifically, from 2020 to 2024, there were 96,473 incidents nationwide, killing 49,031 people and injuring 67,505 people; on average, more than 9,800 people died each year.

In addition, mixed traffic (cars, motorbikes and non-motorized vehicles) circulate on the road, while traffic organization and lane division are still unreasonable; traffic congestion in large cities and urban areas such as Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi during rush hours significantly affects people's travel, causing social unrest...

The above situation is due to many reasons, one of the main reasons is that the awareness of law compliance of a part of traffic participants is still "arbitrary" and "indifferent to the law".

Therefore, it is necessary to increase the level of sanctions strong enough to ensure deterrence for some groups of behaviors, violations with intentional dangerous errors, risk of traffic accidents causing serious consequences for people, and destruction of traffic infrastructure.

Decree 168/2024, which increases the level of administrative sanctions for many violations, has had a profound impact on awareness and significantly raised the sense of law compliance of traffic participants and vehicle owners.

Authorities, including the people's police force that performs the task of ensuring traffic order and safety, all affirm the view that raising the level of administrative violation handling is to deter and educate a small number of people participating in traffic with poor awareness.

At the same time, encourage, motivate and protect the majority of traffic participants, protect the most precious thing which is human life and health. It is time to change bad traffic habits, which distort the image of urban civilization and the image of the country.

Foreign partners underestimate or fear going out also reduces the need for foreign investment.

Accidents take away many valuable human resources of the country; the consequences are that many people who are contributing to society become disabled, causing many families to have to take care of them, becoming a burden for the family and society.

Each traffic participant only needs to form habits such as obeying traffic lights, not overtaking recklessly, not drinking alcohol to reduce traffic accidents, improve safety index when participating in traffic and always remember that home is the place to return to...

- After 19 days of implementing Decree 168/2024 (from January 1 to January 19), the national traffic police force detected and handled 230,672 cases of violations of road traffic order and safety, and 17,902 cases of driving license points being deducted.

Of these, there were more than 46,800 cases of alcohol concentration violations; more than 3,700 cases of overloading, oversizing, and extending the body of the vehicle; more than 50,000 cases of speeding; 432 cases of drivers on the road with drugs in their bodies; and nearly 4,100 cases of not obeying traffic light signals.

Compared to the previous period, the number of penalties has decreased by 18,122 cases (down 7.3%).

Through the synthesis and evaluation of the results of handling violations in the field of road traffic, it is shown that the number of violations has decreased significantly, especially the group of violations that can easily lead to traffic accidents such as not obeying traffic lights decreased by 7.3%, speeding violations decreased by 28%, alcohol concentration violations decreased by 13.5%, and violations of load and vehicle body extension decreased by 34.5%.

Traffic accidents have also changed significantly, road traffic accidents have decreased in all three criteria.

Specifically, nationwide there were 995 incidents, killing 534 people and injuring 656 people; compared to the same period last year, there was a decrease of 430 incidents (down 30.2%), 32 deaths (down 5.6%), 522 injuries (down 44.3%); compared to the previous period, there was a decrease of 231 incidents (down 18.8%), 100 deaths (down 15.7%), 164 injuries (down 20%)….

- The implementation of Decree 168/2024 has strongly impacted the law-abiding awareness of traffic participants, fundamentally changing their awareness of law compliance, and has been assessed by many people as having an effective impact.

For example, the regulation requiring helmets when riding motorbikes and the ban on the use and use of firecrackers in previous years, or the recent traffic police handling violations of alcohol concentration, overloading vehicles, and expanding the body of vehicles... thereby forming the habit of obeying the law among the people.

Decree 168 not only focuses on punishing violations, but also demonstrates humanity in protecting the rights, health and safety of vulnerable groups such as the elderly and children, such as regulations on giving way to pedestrians, regulations on the use of child safety seats in cars, etc. Thereby, contributing to building a safer society for everyone.

In addition, deducting points on the driver's license has created favorable conditions for people to continue driving when they have committed a traffic violation without having all points deducted, ensuring their daily life, self-management, and awareness of the remaining points to participate in traffic proactively, responsibly towards themselves, the community and society.

In fact, since January 1, it can be clearly seen that the traffic landscape has changed in a positive direction. The number of drivers running red lights, driving on sidewalks, and going the wrong way on one-way streets has decreased significantly, especially in large cities.

Traffic participants have voluntarily obeyed traffic lights even when there is no traffic police force to check and control, gradually changing the awareness and sense of responsibility of each citizen, gradually forming a culture when participating in traffic, creating an image of civilized traffic.

There are only a few places where right turns are allowed at red lights, but people deliberately do not turn, causing traffic congestion; some vehicles when changing direction cut into other lanes, obstructing other lanes.

- Every year, before and after Tet, due to the high demand for travel and trade of people compared to normal days, it creates great pressure on traffic infrastructure, the situation of traffic order and safety nationwide, especially in large cities, is always complicated, traffic jams occur more frequently and commonly. Not only during rush hours but also at other times of the day.

Among the many causes identified, the following can be assessed:

Due to the high demand for transporting goods, traveling, and shopping before Tet, people tend to use personal vehicles, especially cars; this is also an annual rule, often causing traffic congestion and jams during the days before Tet.

There is also a rapid increase in personal motor vehicles. For example, the country currently has about 6.8 million cars and more than 77 million motorbikes; meanwhile, the capacity and efficiency of the public transport service system and traffic infrastructure cannot keep up with the growth rate of personal motor vehicles.

In addition, the construction, renovation and upgrading of roads on traffic routes, especially in urban areas, which often take place at the end of the year, is also one of the causes of traffic congestion and jams.

Next, before Decree 168/2024 was implemented, the awareness of a part of the people when participating in traffic was not good, especially when there was no supervision and traffic control by the authorities. Whenever there was a traffic jam, motorcyclists were ready to climb onto the sidewalk to go.

Violators think they are going faster, but when on all sides of the road, traffic participants encroach on lanes, do not obey traffic lights, go in the wrong direction... it will create many intertwined and interlocking traffic flows, which in addition to being dangerous, can sometimes be even more congested.

Decree 168/2024 was issued, raising the level of administrative violation handling compared to Decree 100/2019/ND-CP, Decree 123/2021/ND-CP, especially for acts of lane encroachment, crossing lines, running lights, reversing, driving in the wrong direction... has strongly impacted the awareness and raised the consciousness of traffic participants due to the fear of being handled.

At intersections, people strictly obeyed traffic light signals, lined up in order, and no longer drove vehicles arbitrarily, stopped and parked in lanes or in different directions, so traffic congestion did not last long, only appeared locally, and after 2 to 3 traffic lights, traffic could move again.

Traffic congestion at intersections today is similar to the situation in developed countries or countries in the region, such as Thailand. Although it is congested, it is very orderly, with no jostling, running lights, or going the wrong way at intersections.

Traffic regulation and diversion to relieve traffic congestion will be much more convenient; international visitors to Vietnam appreciate the people's compliance and believe that if implemented well, it will approach developed countries in the region and the world.

- In general, the issuance of Decree 168/2024 has received the majority of public opinion, supporting the increase in administrative penalties for groups of behaviors with high risk of causing traffic accidents and destroying traffic infrastructure such as not obeying traffic light signals; driving on the sidewalk, without a driver's license, driving in the wrong direction...

Raising the level of administrative violation handling aims to increase deterrence, ensure the strictness of the law, gradually raise awareness of each traffic participant, to limit traffic congestion and traffic accidents.

For example, Ms. Angela Pratt, WHO (World Health Organization) representative in Hanoi, welcomed and evaluated Vietnam's success in improving traffic safety, as having applied a comprehensive approach to issues such as laws, law enforcement, infrastructure, vehicle safety standards, etc.

In addition, domestic and foreign press also assessed Vietnam's determination in establishing traffic safety, affirming that traffic safety is a form of advertising to attract foreign investment, promote tourism, "retain" tourists and encourage tourists to return to Vietnam.

Colonel Pham Quang Huy inspected the first day of implementing Decree 168.

Regarding issues that still have some difficulties and problems when applying in practice, the Ministry of Public Security has directed units to both guide, propagate and handle during the implementation process. Therefore, people highly appreciate the Traffic Police Department (Ministry of Public Security)'s timely response to public questions related to this Decree.

This helps people have more necessary information to feel more secure when participating in traffic.

There are also some opinions proposing solutions, saying that there should be additional instructions "red light is allowed to turn right" or adjusting the light cycle and traffic organization... The Traffic Police Department will coordinate with the transportation sector to research and propose implementation.

However, we must see that this is a new regulation, which has a great impact on people, especially the increase in administrative penalties for some violations, so some subjects have taken advantage of social networking sites to post false and contradictory information.

There has even been some information and public opinion calling for opposition to Article 64 of the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety (Article 64 stipulates that the driving time of a car driver shall not exceed 10 hours in a day and not exceed 48 hours in a week; driving continuously shall not exceed 4 hours and shall ensure relevant provisions of the Labor Code... these contents are all inherited from the 2008 Road Traffic Law).

- In the coming time, the Traffic Police Department will advise the Ministry of Public Security to direct professional units and local police to focus on strictly implementing the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety and guiding documents, thereby creating discipline and changing the face of road traffic nationwide, especially in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and major cities.

At the same time, direct the police of units and localities to focus on disseminating the provisions of Decree No. 168/2024 so that the masses know and comply; coordinate with the transport sector to review road traffic infrastructure (traffic lights, signs, road markings, stops, etc.).

In addition, the authorities also recommended and immediately corrected any unreasonable points.

The traffic police force will be serious and resolute in handling violations, with the spirit of "no forbidden zones, no exceptions"; at the same time, officers and soldiers in the process of performing their duties must also strictly comply with the provisions of the law and the Ministry of Public Security; prevent and strictly handle violators who oppose and resist law enforcement officers.

The Traffic Police Department will also advise the Ministry of Public Security to coordinate with the Ministry of Transport and People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities to urgently review and complete requirements for developing traffic infrastructure under their authority.

In particular, focus on reviewing, fixing, and organizing reasonable road signaling systems, adding additional guidance signs; drawing lines to divide lanes and road sections, repairing and fixing traffic light systems, restoring or expanding the traffic light countdown clock system.

Develop a plan to organize overall traffic flow in cities and large urban areas; avoid the situation of "solving this place, causing problems in another place". Deal with urban order, encroachment on roadsides, illegal parking causing traffic obstruction and congestion.

In addition, the Traffic Police Department also modernizes the traffic police force, connects data with the Ministry of Transport and other ministries and branches, fulfills the role of managing traffic safety and order in the new situation, researches to reduce administrative procedures and creates conditions for people to be resolved most conveniently.

Seriously implement Resolution No. 48/NQ-CP dated April 5, 2022 of the Government on strengthening traffic order and safety for the period 2022-2025, focusing on the following issues:

Implement the Project on applying information technology in traffic management and operation, focusing on the road sector.

Particularly for the People's Committees of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, it is necessary to focus on developing a mass public passenger transport system, applying smart transport technology in organizing, managing and operating urban traffic, and strengthening the management of means of transport to reduce traffic congestion and environmental pollution.

Develop a project to limit motorbike operation zones, in accordance with the infrastructure and service capacity of the public passenger transport system, towards a roadmap to limit or stop motorbike operation in some districts after 2030.

Develop and implement a project to collect fees from motor vehicles entering certain areas in the city that are at risk of traffic congestion and environmental pollution to limit the entry of motor vehicles.

And finally, strengthen the management of roads and sidewalks for pedestrians; approval of investment in the construction of apartment buildings, high-rise buildings, and commercial centers must be consistent with planning and meet requirements for parking lots and traffic infrastructure.

The country is in a period of renewal. I remember General Secretary To Lam once said that this is the era when Vietnam strives to keep pace with the international community.

To do so, we must definitely change the mindset and culture within the country, making traffic culture, public culture, work culture, culinary culture and other cultures perfected and vibrant, worthy of international exchange and cooperation.

Through traffic culture, it also contributes a part of the strength to build up the spirit of Vietnamese solidarity, integration and development in the new era.

Thank you, Colonel!

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Content: Tran Thanh

Design: Thuy Tien

01/25/2025 - 06:30

Dantri.com.vn

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/nghi-dinh-168-nang-cao-y-thuc-chap-hanh-cua-nguoi-tham-gia-giao-thong-20250124191026497.htm