Many transport enterprises may have to spend trillions of đồng to replace their current black box recording devices with new ones if draft regulations on transport trading are approved.

A black box recording device is installed on a passenger bus. 

The regulations are part of the draft decree on transport trading by the Ministry of Transport.

The decree stipulates that transit vehicles, which transport passengers from pick-up points to bus stations or vice versa, are required to have black boxes installed in their vehicles.

It also stipulates that the contents and data of black boxes installed in cars must be stored and saved, including the information on the driving time of drivers each day and the images of drivers during the day. 

Currently, the black boxes only record the location and speed of cars in which they are fitted, and are capable of transmitting the information to a central database.

The Ministry of Transport requires that the installation of new black boxes among contracted passenger buses and nine-seat-buses or more must be completed before July 1, 2022. The work among containers, semi-trailers or trailers must be completed before July 1, 2023. The work among trucks weighing 20 tonnes or more must be completed before July 1, 2024 and the work among passenger buses less than nine seats must be completed before July 1, 2025.

The regulations have been submitted to the Government for approval. 

By July 1, 2016 when the regulations on installing black boxes in cars came into effect, as many as 800 cars had installed the in-vehicle device at a total cost of more than VNĐ3 trillion (US$128.4 million).

If the new regulations are approved, these black boxes will have to be replaced with new ones, putting a financial burden on transport enterprises.

As calculated, more than 340,000 cars will have the new black boxes. The price of each black box is between VNĐ4.5-5.5 million ($192-235) and the cost of maintaining the server and data transmission is about VNĐ120,000 ($5.3) per car per month. The cost of installing new devices for these cars will reach between VNĐ1.5-1.9 trillion ($64.2 million-81.3 million), and the cost of maintaining the server and data transmission is estimated at VNĐ500 billion ($21.4 million) per year.

Nguyễn Văn Thanh, chairman of Việt Nam Automobile Transport Association told Tiền Phong (Vanguard) newspaper that he had not been asked for opinions on the new regulations.

Chairman of Hà Nội Automobile Transport Association Bùi Danh Liên agreed, saying that he had not been told about the regulations. 

Liên said the black box was a device for transport enterprises to control their vehicles and driving staff. The installation of the device to help authorised agencies hand out fines was not needed, except in the case of accidents.

According to Liên, the installation of black boxes in vehicles over the past several years had not proved effective and was very costly. 

With the new regulations, transport enterprises might have to pay trillions of đồng to get the new devices, wasting their money, he added.

The Government’s Decree 171/NĐ-CP stipulated that all cars must have black boxes installed before July 1, 2016. Vehicles without black boxes or installed with sub-standard devices would be fined between VNĐ500,000-2 million ($22.2-85.6). — VNS