VietNamNet Bridge – The Government's latest resolution on road safety, which came into effect at the end of last month, aims to crack down on drink driving and improve awareness about the dangers of alcohol.

The new safety campaign follows the passing of Resolution 32 in 2007, which made it compulsory for motorbike riders and pillion passengers to wear helmets; and the less effective Resolution 16 passed in 2008, designed to improve road safety in Ha Noi and HCM City.

"This is the first time a Government document has dealt with drink driving in such a comprehensive manner," said Nguyen Van Thuan, director of the Transport Ministry's Traffic Safety Department.

Thuan said the new resolution was a clear commitment by the Government to tackle drink driving.

"Resolution No 88 sets out detailed tasks for relevant ministries and a firm deadline to complete them [the end of this year]," he said.

Under the document, civil servants who drive will be prohibited from drinking alcohol during lunch, or driving while under the influence.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has been ordered to complete a regulation by the end of this year forcing alcohol advertisers to include health warnings on the dangers of drink driving.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has also been asked to force alcohol makers and importers to put drink driving warnings on their product's labels, and to prohibit restaurants from serving alcohol to motorists.

"Hard-hitting and gripping social marketing campaigns (coupled with intensive police enforcement) will be rolled out across Viet Nam," said Than Van Thanh, office chief of the National Traffic Safety Committee.

"Now more than ever before, if you drink and drive, you will be caught and severely penalised," he said.

Under Viet Nam's Traffic Law, drink drivers face a maximum fine of VND6 million (US$290) and having their driving licences and vehicle confiscated for 90 days.

Dr Graham Harrison, World Health Organisation representative to Viet Nam, said surveys of hospitals in northern Ha Nam and Ninh Binh provinces showed that 23 per cent of all those injured in traffic accidents had a blood alcohol level exceeding the legal driving limit. In Viet Nam, the legal limit for driving is 50mg per decilitre (tenth of a litre) of blood for motorbike drivers, while it is zero for car, lorry and bus drivers.

"This has also been seen in other hospitals nationwide," Harrison said.

No official research has been conducted on the typical number of drink drivers on Viet Nam's roads, but the numbers are thought to be staggeringly high.

"I can easily handle two or three beers before driving. There's no need to leave my motorbike at a bia hoi [beer bar] and take a taxi home," said a man who had just left a bia hoi in Ha Noi.

Meanwhile, 20 young and middle-aged males interviewed by Viet Nam News admitted to having driven while under the influence of alcohol.

Government figures show that, on average, 30 people are killed on Viet Nam's roads every day and that 85 per cent of those deaths were the result of human error.

"I believe the resolution is a move in the right direction," said Takagi Michimasa, a transport safety expert at the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA).

Meanwhile, Harrison said WHO appreciated the commitment the Government was showing towards tackling drink driving. He said WHO would continue to offer its support to any new initiatives that would be launched.

HCM City looks to curb traffic accidents City authorities have set a goal to reduce the number of traffic accidents by 10 per cent this month, which is Traffic Safety Month in Viet Nam. The city also targets reducing the number of people killed in traffic accidents by 5 per cent and the number of injured by 10 per cent compared to the figures recorded in August. Nguyen Huu Tin, vice chairman of the HCM City People's Committee, has asked departments and sectors to further educate residents about traffic laws on roads, railways and waterways, step up the enforcement of traffic violations and ensure that road construction was completed. Tin ordered that road and other construction works must meet traffic-safety standards and complete on schedule to prevent traffic congestion. The HCM City Traffic Safety Board, Department of Transport and HCM City Police plan to set up an interdisciplinary team to outline ways to reduce the number of traffic jams. According to the HCM City Traffic Safety Board, 568 traffic accidents have occurred since the beginning of this year.

Shortly after the new Government resolution was enacted, WHO announced it would be working closely with the National Traffic Safety Committee to clamp down on drink driving, in line with the ongoing Road Safety in Ten Countries campaign.

Under the project more police officers would be trained in dealing with drink driving and equipped with breathalysers, Thanh said.

Nguyen Thanh Tung, a traffic policeman in Ha Noi's Dong Da District, said his unit, comprising about 100 officers, had just five or six breathalyser kits between them.

Thuan of the Traffic Safety Department admitted implementing the new resolution would be fraught with problems, not least of which would be enforcement of the drink driving law due to a lack of resources.

Meanwhile, Michimasa said he doubted the new campaign would be as successful as the compulsory helmet law passed in 2007.

"I am sorry to say that the feasibility of the resolution is not high at the moment," he said. "Drinking is a very common habit in Viet Nam, whereas, from an enforcement point of view, it is difficult to judge whether a driver is drunk unless he or she is involved in an accident or commits a traffic violation."

Under Vietnamese law, a policeman can only stop a motorist who has clearly committed an offence.

Tung said it usually took more time to deal with suspected alcohol abuse cases than other types of violations because drivers needed the co-operation of the motorist.

"The devices that measure alcohol concentration only work when they receive a certain amount of breath. A lot of violators fail to blow hard enough and for long enough for the devices," he said.

However, Michimasa remains quietly confident driving habits will change if the law is rigorously enforced.

"A continuous and sustainable effort is needed to change people's habit," he said.

"It's also essential to develop a more strategic control and management system for motorbikes, which make up more than 80 per cent of road users, and are also the major victims of traffic accidents," he added.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News