VietNamNet Bridge – A 16-seat car which was travelling at a very high speed on Highway 51 in Tan Thanh district in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province suddenly reduced speed when a device sounded "beep ... beep ...."

The devices that are advertised to be able to detect signals of the police's speed guns.

A few minutes later, the car passed a traffic police station at the slower speed of below 60km/h.

Phuong the driver smiled when a passenger asked him about the strange sound.

Pointing to a hand-shaped black device, a radar detector, near the steering wheel, he said: "It is a talisman to help me and many other drivers in our travel company (based in Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City) to deal with traffic police’s speed-guns."

According to Phuong, who has been a coach driver for many years, drivers are tired of travelling all day on crowded and small roads, so they often speed up on deserted roads and at excessive speed.

"From Saigon to Dong Nai, and Vung Tau, there are a few points where traffic police use speed guns. If we are fined, we will work for free that day and if the police seize our driving licence, our family will be hungry," Phuong said.

To cope with speed guns, Phuong bought a device called Cobra, which is capable of detecting the radar of police’s speed guns. Upon detecting the speed guns, Cobra will sound "beep beep" to signal and the driver will slow down.

"This is the old model so it can detect several frequencies. Its is priced only more than VND3 million ($150),” Phuong said.

According to Phuong, there are modern devices that can disable the police’s speed guns of all types, from radar to laser speed guns but the prices are very high, from $800 to several thousand US dollars.

According to a traffic police officer in Dong Nai province, the police use two kinds of speed guns - portable and fixed devices. He said he had also heard about a device that can detect and disable speed guns. "I don’t know how effective these devices are, but sometimes our speed guns are jammed," he said.

An official of the HCM City Traffic Police Department said they had not detected any car with the device which can disable speed guns.

According to the HCMC Police Department, speeding is one of the main causes of traffic accidents. In the first half of this year, HCM City recorded 59 traffic accidents related to speeding, which killed 53 people and injured 15.

Minh Hang