Nearly 9,600 traffic accidents resulting in 4,134 deaths and 8,000 injuries were reported in Vietnam in the first half of this year.

A traffic accident in Kon Tum province on June 30

The figures were released by the National Committee for Traffic Safety at a teleconference on July 4 to review the country’s traffic situation in the January-June period.

The numbers of accidents, deaths and injured fell by 636, 229 and 1,004 respectively compared to the same period last year.

However, there were 23 serious traffic accidents that claimed a total of 81 deaths, 110 injuries and other asset losses.

According to the committee’s report, the traffic fatality rate fell in 38 major cities and provinces across the country.

Particularly, 16 of them saw the rate drop up to 20 percent.  They include Ca Mau, Cao Bang, Dien Bien, Lao Cai, Tay Ninh, Kien Giang and Quang Ngai.

Twenty-two localities in the country reported a traffic fatality increase, including Ha Nam, Gia Lai, Hau An, Khanh Hoa, Hai Phong, Yen Bai, An Giang and Quang Tri.

The fatality rates in An Giang, Quang Tri, Can Tho and Lai Chau are over 30 percent.

Traffic jams are still a major problem, especially in major cities like Hanoi and HCM City.

As many as 33 prolonged traffic jams (lasting over half an hour) were reported in the last six months nationwide, while 25 prolonged traffic jams were reported in the same period last year.

Police reportedly cracked down on 2.24 million traffic violations across the country in the first half of this year, collecting fines of 1.5 trillion VND (66 million USD).

Chairing the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, who is also head of the committee, said that despite efforts to curb traffic accidents and traffic jams, the public remains deeply concerned about the issues.

He also raised concerns about overloaded trucks, illegal passenger pick up/drop off of coaches and increased traffic jams.

He called on more drastic measures to tackle the problems.

Khuat Viet Hung, vice head of the committee, said that out of 33 reported major traffic jams, 22 were caused after traffic accidents happened, three were caused by excessive number of vehicles on roads and the other eight were caused by other incidents on roads.

VNA