VietNamNet Bridge – The Viet Nam Registration Department said about 70,000 automobiles had passed their expiry date since the beginning of this year and were no longer considered road worthy – but that the majority were still in use.


Photo: VOV
Furthermore, the department said 40,000 trucks and nearly 30,000 buses were considered no longer roadworthy but that just 10,400 had been impounded.


Than Van Thanh, chief of the National Traffic Safety Committee, said the law prohibited aged vehicles from being on the road for safety reasons.


He added that vehicle owners were also largely ignorant of the law, while others openly flouted road regulations because punishments were not strict enough.


The department, which has 88 vehicle registration centres nationwide, said owners often used fake registration documents to bypass the law and fool officials.


Most elderly and illegal vehicles are discovered in major cities such as Ha Noi, HCM City and Dong Nai.


The Traffic Department said officials often confiscated registration documents shortly before a vehicle needed to be scrapped, and informed owners and relevant agencies about the approaching deadline.

Definition of unroadworthy

Under Decree No 95 issued last year, from the beginning of this year, trucks made in 1985 or before would no longer be considered roadworthy, while buses made in 1990 or before have to be taken off the roads after 20 years of service.

Last year, there were 184,000 newly registered cars and about 3 million motorbikes, an increases of 12.1 and 10.3 per cent respectively against the previous year.

There are currently 33 million legally registered vehicles on Viet Nam's roads. Of that number, there are 1.3 million cars and 31 million motorbikes.


The Viet Nam Registration Department said the number of unfit vehicles on the country's roads had decreased since Decree No 92 was promulgated.


However, the department said it was not easy to clearly state when foreign-made vehicle should be taken off the roads because of the availability of new parts.


Vehicles that have no documents are automatically considered unroad-worthy.


The department has published the registration numbers of those vehicles that should not be on the road.


Nguyen Huu Tri, the Registration Department head, said a public awareness campaign on the regulation had been run by local media.


Nguyen Duc Nghi, director of the municipal police, said police would step-up checks on trucks and buses. Those found un-roadworthy faced fines of VND4-6 million ($190-285) for each violation.


VietNamNet/Viet Nam News