Traffic safety was improved in 2016 with decreases in all the numbers of accidents, deaths and injuries, it was reported at a national conference of traffic police in Da Nang city on December 30.

There were 21,568 traffic accidents nationwide this year, killing 8,680 and injuring 19,280 others. Those figures respectively declined by 1,259, 47 and 1,789 from 2015, Deputy Minister of Public Security Nguyen Van Son said.

However, the falling trend is unsustainable and traffic accident losses are still big. Congestion in crowded urban areas and key national roads remains a big problem threatening traffic order and safety, especially in big cities.

He blamed the congestion on the rapid increase in the number of traffic vehicles that surpass the capacity of transport infrastructure. The growing population density in some cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as a result of unbalanced urban development and irrational demographic policies, is another important factor. 

Poor observance of traffic rules among commuters and the prolonged construction of transport facilities are also to blame for the congestion, the official said, noting that 41 traffic jams that lasted for more than 1 hour were reported nationwide in 2016, most of them occurred in Hanoi and HCM City.

The Deputy Minister asked the traffic police force to launch more campaigns promoting traffic safety and social order, intensify patrols and strictly deal with traffic rule violations in 2017. He also reminded the force of the task to ensure absolute safety for important political events, especially Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum events during next year.

VNA