Completely handle the problems of traffic signals and signs

In recent times, the traffic light and sign system has revealed many serious shortcomings, causing difficulties and potential risks of accidents for traffic participants. Faced with this situation, the authorities, headed by the Ministry of Construction and the Vietnam Road Administration, have urgently conducted a general review.

Circular No. 51/2024/TT-BGTVT of the former Ministry of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction ) issued together with the new National Technical Regulation on road signs, QCVN 41:2024/BGTVT, has contributed to speeding up the replacement progress and overcoming these shortcomings.

More than ten thousand traffic lights and signs have been repaired.

According to information from the Vietnam Road Administration, from the beginning of 2025, implementing the direction of the Government , the Ministry of Construction, the Vietnam Road Administration and localities will conduct a general review of the traffic sign and light system nationwide. Specifically, through reviewing nearly 7,000 traffic lights, the authorities discovered 1,025 clusters of lights with shortcomings.

The main causes of these shortcomings are the lack of countdown lights, the small size of the lights that are difficult to observe, some lights that have been in operation for too long, are too old and operate unstable. Some locations were invested in many periods with old technology, the control is still manual. To completely resolve these problems, the Vietnam Road Administration has focused on directing the repair, renovation and addition of road signs, most of which have been resolved. Complex locations are given priority for emergency handling or included in the 2025 maintenance plan.

According to the Vietnam Road Administration, with the direction of the Ministry of Public Security and in coordination with the Traffic Police, all traffic lights have been handed over to the Traffic Police for management and operation. Regarding the sign system, about 10,520 sign locations were identified to have shortcomings, mainly related to sizes that do not meet standards, suboptimal placement, signs that are blurred or need to be added.

Some locations on the national highway, although not violating regulations, the information arrangement and sign placement are not really suitable. The local Road Management Areas and Construction Departments have requested immediate corrections, and at the same time, experience has been drawn to avoid causing confusion or frustration for traffic participants.

With the goal of "organizing traffic appropriately and scientifically, ensuring people can easily understand, conveniently and safely participate in traffic", the Vietnam Road Administration said that the unit is still coordinating with the Traffic Police Department to review traffic organization on expressways and National Highway 1 from Lang Son to Ca Mau to promptly handle existing problems, and at the same time deploy solutions to improve traffic safety.

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Synchronize to new standards

To standardize and completely overcome the shortcomings, the National Technical Regulation on Road Signs QCVN 41:2024/BGTVT, effective from the beginning of 2025, has provided detailed standards to ensure the scientific and easy-to-understand nature of the sign system. The Vietnam Road Administration said that road management agencies are directed to implement a plan to replace signs according to the transition roadmap. Current signs with different content and meaning, not in accordance with the new Regulation, must be replaced and adjusted immediately. Meanwhile, road signs installed before the effective date of Circular 51 (January 1, 2025) that are not completely suitable in terms of symbols, size, color but do not cause misunderstandings, can continue to be used, but must be replaced before August 20, 2030.

“For new projects, road signs that have not been arranged or installed in road construction projects that have not yet been constructed must comply with QCVN 41. The Ministry of Construction has requested the Vietnam Road Administration and the Departments of Construction to review and remove unnecessary signs or signs with inappropriate content, and replace them with signs that comply with regulations, ensuring scientific and reasonable traffic organization. Units must also review and adjust additional signs if there is too much information that causes difficulties for traffic participants,” said the Vietnam Road Administration.

The Vietnam Road Administration affirmed that the new standard sets out detailed technical standards to ensure the scientific and easy-to-understand nature of the signaling system. The ultimate goal is to organize scientific and safe traffic. Road management units are required to proactively develop maintenance plans and budgets to organize repairs and additions to road signaling systems and traffic safety works to soon synchronize and meet the Standards. In particular, it is necessary to detect and immediately fix shortcomings at intersections, school locations, locations with traffic safety risks, road sections with high slopes, narrow curves, and limited visibility, to ensure compliance with current regulations and promote the signaling function for traffic participants.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/Giao-thong/xu-ly-dut-diem-nhung-bat-cap-ve-tin-hieu-bien-bao-giao-thong-i787043/