VietNamNet Bridge – The capital's Transport Association proposed restricting the speed of passenger coaches travelling at night to avoid severe traffic accidents, which have occurred regularly during recent days.

Rescue workers remove victims and luggage from the coach that crashed at the Bridge 14 on May 18 in Dak Lak Province, killing 37 people. (Photo: VNS)
Specifically, on highways, 16+ seater passenger coaches would be required to travel at a maximum speed of between 50-60kph instead of 60-80kph between 9pm and 4am.

On mountain passes, coaches would be banned during these hours.

Coaches that start their journey of more than 300km after 9pm would be under strict control.

Chairman of the association Bui Danh Lien said that night coaches were the culprits of severe recent traffic accidents.

He said the association had called on the Ministry of Public Security to set up inspection stations and mobile inspection teams at night to assure the compliance of coach drivers.

The proposal has received disagreement from experts and transport enterprises.

Chairman of the Viet Nam Automobile Transportation Association Nguyen Manh Hung told Kinh te & Do thi (Economy & Urban Affairs) newspaper that the proposal was improper and difficult to carry out.

Many transport enterprises would spend more time on each journey if their coaches stopped travelling at night, he explained. Moreover, more money would be spent on building signal systems and mobilising inspection teams, which were costly.

Operating manager of Thien Phu Transport Services and Trading Tran Thanh Bao said the trend of travelling at night, especially journeys of more than 400km, had become increasingly popular.

"All enterprises who own long-route coaches offer night trips. It will seriously affect them if the proposal is approved," he said.
According to Hung, transport enterprises should have two or more drivers during long trips to take turns to ensure their own as well as passenger safety.

He added that these enterprises should build stop-overs to change drivers when necessary.

In the middle of this month, a coach crashed into a bridge and plunged into the Serepok River in the Central Highland province of Dak Lak, killing 37 passengers and leaving 21 others injured.

In the first four months of this year, about 3,600 traffic accidents occurred, killing 3,000 and leaving 3,000 others injured, a reduction of 20 per cent compared to the same period of last year.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News