VietNamNet Bridge – Heavy and passenger vehicles including buses and trucks, won't be given registrations if they don't have black boxes installed, Viet Nam Road Administration director Trinh Ngoc Giao said yesterday, June 10.

The deadline was approaching for installing the devices, which record information about speed and destination, but many transport enterprises had yet to comply.

The Government's Decree 91/ND-CP stipulated that passenger vehicles making trips of 300km upwards, tourist cars and container trucks must have black boxes installed from July 1.

Ministry of Transport statistics show that about 35,500 vehicles nation-wide need to be equipped with black boxes but nearly 14,000 have yet to meet the requirement.

Do Xuan Hoa, director of the administration's legislation department, said transport enterprises usually blamed financial difficulties and capital shortages for not installing the equipment and paying the monthly subscription fees.

Night ban on buses opposed The Viet Nam Road Administration has disagreed with a Municipal Transport Association proposal that buses should be banned from travelling at night. It also said the restriction on of buses travelling between 9pm-4am to between 50-60kph instead of 60-80kph the speed was not acceptable because as the speed was already covered by law. The administration said the proposal would not reduce traffic accidents and may even cause more traffic jams because it would mean more vehicles on the road during the day. The proposal would seriously affect travellers who wanted to save time on long journeys by travelling at night, the association said.

Le Duc Hong of September 2 Transport Co said his company installed black boxes in its two buses running from northern mountainous Son La Province to Ha Noi at a cost of VND4 million ($192) each.

"An alarm goes off when the buses go over 80kph," he said.

Giao said the installation of the devices one year before the implementation of fines was necessary to test their operation.
Vehicles without black boxes would be fined VND2-3 million (US$96-144).

Viet Nam Automobile Transport Association chairman Nguyen Manh Hung said it was vital to build a national information management centre which could collate information from black boxes.

The centre would then detect substandard devices and thus ensure the safety of vehicles.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport has announced the names of 24 companies manufacturing black boxes at the cost of VND4-7 million ($192-$336) on its official website.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News