VietNamNet Bridge – Transport researchers have suggested banning the use of mobile phone while car driving as it threatens road safety.

A driver uses hand-held phone when driving. — VNA/VNS Photo

Researchers from the Vietnamese-German Transportation Research Centre revealed on Tuesday that they studied the phone behaviour of more than 210,000 drivers in HCM City and Binh Duong.

While some 61 per cent of the drivers drove at normal speed while using a phone, 33 per cent moved to the roadside and continued to drive slowly while on the phone. Only 6 per cent stopped their car to answer calls.

Up to 60 per cent of the drivers said they were confident of their driving skills and said they could both drive and use their phone at the same time.

Very few of the drivers used a hands-free phone.

While the rate for car drivers and coach drivers using a phone while driving was 39 per cent and 37 per cent respectively, it was almost half for truck drivers.    

According to the director of the centre, experimental tests showed that using a hand-held phone while driving could cause traffic accidents three times more than driving without a phone.

Deputy head of the National Committee for Road Safety Khuat Viet Hung said under the Law on Road Traffic 2008, using mobile phone while driving motorbikes was banned, but using a phone while driving automobiles was not.

However, using a hand-held phone while driving is banned in the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, 1968, to which Vietnam is a party.

Hung said the National Committee for Road Safety would work with other relevant agencies to further study and consider the proposed ban.

Under the current law, drivers using a hand-held phone while driving motorbikes have to pay a fine of VND600,000-800,000. They also have their driving licences revoked for one to three months. 

Source: VNS