VietNamNet Bridge - Under the scorching sun, sweat soaking his back, Mr. Pham Cong Xuan diligently drove his motorcycle along National Highway 1A in Binh Duong province to collect nails. Occasionally, he received a threatening message: "Do you like a scimitar?"

The National Highway 1 running through Di An town is called the “point of death" because of nails, spread on the road by someone. Because of nails, many vehicles get punctured or crash. Xuan’s motorbike was punctured several times so he was very angry with this evil.

After witnessing a serious accident, caused by nails, in which one victim got a brain injury and another broke her arm, Xuan was urged to do something to help the community fight the nail spreaders.

He invented a “nail attracting vehicle,” which was created from his motorcycle, with a “metal tail” of 2 m long, with 14 magnets to attract nails.

Then every day, from 6 am, he left his coffee shop to travel on the road to collect nails until noon. He spent his own money to buy gas and drive his motorbike on the road under the scorching sun until the midday to collect nails for free.

With a face which was burnt by sun and wind, Xuan said that based on information from the victims of “street nails” and from the press, he drew the routes and schedules. He traveled between Binh Duong and HCM City every day, around 50km/day, to collect nails. He got around 2 kg of nail each day.

The image of a skinned man on a Honda motorbike with a "trailer" behind, who travels on the road each day to collect nails has become familiar with a lot of people who live along the National Highway 1. The motorbike ran "like a turtle" with a speed of 10 km per hour to be able to attract tiny nails on the road.

Driving a “nail attracting vehicle,” but his motorbike was still punctured by nails, motorbike repairers did not want to mend his vehicle.



"Since I started this work, the volume of nails on the road has dropped. Traffic accidents on this road also seem to reduce. But if I stop working for a day, nails will appear again," Xuan explained why he has to do this task every day.

Xuan said, sometimes he was threatened by nail spreaders. He often received texts like "Do you like a scimitar?", "Do you want to let your family to live in peace?" But Xuan believes that he is doing a good work and he is supported by many people.

As he passed through the streets, people clapped, some gave him bottles of water and they told him that the society needs more people like him...

"Once, an old man ran after my motorbike and pressed into my hand VND50,000 ($2.5) to refuel. I refused, but the man said that he did not give the money to me but to contribute to the community. I could not deny that man’s heart. This is the only time I took money from others," he said.

"Luckily, my wife supports my work. She has never complained that I neglect the family and spend VND2 million ($100) a month to buy gas. I do useful work for the society so I’m happy," Xuan said.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has recently awarded a certificate of merit and medal for the construction and safety of traffic to Xuan.

Xuan appeared in the "Total Traffic Knights" program, along with 25 other knights, who were presented the certificates of merit of the National Traffic Safety Committee.

Translated by Mai Lan