Compared to the same period last year, traffic accident numbers fell by 2.89 percent but fatalities rose 1.66 percent. 

Among 27 localities posting more fatalities, 14 saw a rise of more than 40 percent while Ca Mau, Tay Ninh and Cao Bang provinces registered 150 percent or more extra deaths. 

Chairing the event, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, also Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, said traffic rule violations are rising, especially on highways and rural areas, and management in the field remains poor. 

Vice Chairman of the Hanoi municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Quoc Hung said the city’s Transport Department will consider a plan to adjust inter-provincial transport routes via Hanoi to ease traffic congestion. 

Deputy Director of the Ministry of Public Security’s Traffic Police Department Nguyen Ngoc Tuan suggested that the Transport Ministry should build a traffic supervision system and allocate land to build medical and search and rescue stations on highways. 

He asked the Directorate of Roads of Vietnam and localities to pilot several bus stops on Hanoi – Ninh Binh, Hanoi - Bac Giang and Hanoi – Lao Cai highways to meet travel demand. 

Concluding the event, Binh requested the National Traffic Safety Committee to issue and follow a plan to deal with violations regarding drink driving this year and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s Directive on getting more motorbike riders to wear helmets. 

To gradually ease traffic congestion in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the Deputy PM underscored the need to ban the building of high-rise houses in downtown areas, build overpasses and tunnels, develop satellite urban areas and rearrange the working population. 

He proposed installing smart technology to direct traffic and building traffic control centres for public safety and order. 

The Ministry of Public Security was asked to work with the transport sector to devise traffic direction plans in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and adjacent areas, increase search and rescue rehearsals and training on roads, railways and domestic waterways. 

The Transport Ministry was directed to supplement regulations on the safety of vehicles, especially automobiles used for transportation business. 

Agencies were told to open stations to inspect the weight of vehicles and toll collection stations, especially on National Highway No.1 and areas near Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, build software and applications to oversee drivers.-VNA