Some laws may slap tougher sanctions on drink driving
Stricter fines proposed for drunk drivers

The scene of an accident which resulted in the death of a sanitation worker who was busy clearing rubbish off of Lang Street in Hanoi’s Dong Da District in April this year. — Photo vov.vn

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday in Hanoi, he said transport enterprises the employ people guilty of drink driving would have their business licences revoked, adding that the proposal would be submitted to the Government soon.

The move is aimed to enhance compliance with the Law on Alcohol Harm Prevention which was recently approved by the National Assembly, Quang said.

To put the regulation into practice, there must be co-operation from different agencies and the whole society, he said.

Alcohol is consumed in Vietnam at an alarmingly high rate and it has been increasing over the years, according to experts.

Data provided by the World Health Organisation Office in Vietnam showed that the country ranked third in Asia and 64th in the world with regard to beer and liquor consumption in 2016.

The average Vietnamese adult drank approximately 8.3 litres of pure alcohol or more than 470 bottles of beer a year.

Excessive alcohol consumption resulted in 79,000 deaths and hundreds of thousands of hospitalisations for the treatment of alcohol-related diseases including stroke and hypertension in 2016 alone, said Kidong Park, the World Health Organisation Representative in Vietnam.

The latest statistics from the National Traffic Safety Committee revealed that 15,000 people die every year due to traffic accidents in Vietnam, of which 4,800 cases are related to drunkenness.

VNS