VietNamNet Bridge – All illogical road signs will be replaced to enable better compliance with the laws, Nguyen Van Huyen, director general of the Directorate of the Viet Nam Road tells Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam (Viet Nam Economic Times)

Speed limit signs specifying 25, 30 or 35km/hr have slowed traffic and frustrated drivers. Will the Ministry of Transport (MoT) and the Directorate of the Viet Nam Road (DRVN) get rid of all these traffic signs?

I can't agree more. In the first three months of 2014, the DRVN instructed its subordinate agents to make changes to 206 traffic signs, including 66 speed limit signs and 140 signs in residential areas.

However, there still remain some speed limit signs of 25, 30 or 35 km/hour at the request of local authorities and some signs have been forgotten during the general review.

On June 10, the DRVN submitted a letter of request to the MoT to change the speed limits from 25km, 30km or 35km to 40 km/hr. Our proposal was approved by the transport minister the next day.

Nevertheless, if road conditions in certain sections are good enough, the speed may be raised higher (above 40 km/hr).

For steep winding roads, we'll erect more traffic signs.

In short, we, at the DRVN are committed to making the traffic signs easy and safe for road users.

Why are some illogical traffic signs still used on some roads?

In our current inspection visits, we have detected some speed signs of 35 km/hr still located on some routes in Ninh Binh and Thanh Hoa provinces. And worse still, in some sections of express ways, near Ha Noi, 35 km/hr signs remain there. I promise, we'll remove them in the near future.

In addition, we will change the speed signs in sections of 50 km/hr which cover a very long distance to 60 km/hr.

What about the speed limit for winding roads that experience heavy traffic?

I think the speed limit of 40km/hr is suitable on such roads.

There are multiple factors causing traffic accidents. But mainly this is attributed to careless driving, not because of the 40 km/hr speed limit.

I think many people have agreed with the idea of increasing the speed limit on such roads to 40 km/hr from 30 km/hr.

In the media, some people even complain that the 30km/hr speed limit is just a booby trap for drivers to be given speeding tickets. Some of them even say that although on some roads, the sign says 80km/hr, drivers can't go that fast because of traffic.

What's your response to the complaint that the 5 km/hr road work signs are positioned in long strips?

I still remember, several years ago, the DRVN gave instructions to remove the 5 km/hr sign alluding to road works ahead. But, many of them are still seen near construction sites. It is high time for us to rectify this.

Regarding caution signs for works ahead, we have suggested to place signs of 10 or 20 km/hr depending on the geographical or transport conditions of each locality.

What about penalties given to overloaded vehicles crossing bridges that only allow vehicles weighing less than 10 tonnes to cross?

In June, we'll review bridge load capacity on all national and provincial roads. After that review we'll come up with specific load limits for each type of bridge.

When the new weight limit signs are put up, we'll hand out punishments to anyone who violates the law.

VNS/VNN