The number of traffic accidents and victims continues to be high, but the situation has seen slight improvement compared to last year.
On October 11, Vietnam’s National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC) held a conference in Hanoi to review the country’s road safety situation in the first nine months of 2018, reports VietnamNet.
Overall, the number of traffic accidents decreased in 38 provinces and state-level cities while the other 23 saw an increase in the amount of accidents. Streets in Cao Bang and Bac Giang provinces in the north and Tay Ninh Province in the south were the most dangerous in the country, with an increase of more than 50%.
NTSC Vice Chairman Khuat Viet Hung shared at the conference that during this period, Vietnam reported 13,242 traffic accidents, which killed 6,012 and injured 10,319 others, according to Kinh Te Do Thi. While these figures might sound grim, they were an improvement compared to the same period of 2017. Specifically, there were 1,120 fewer accidents, 113 fewer deaths and 1,467 fewer injuries.
Motorcycle continues to be the riskiest mode of transport, accounting for 85% of the victims. However, in 2018, Vietnam also witnessed a considerable amount of freak accidents involving long-distance coaches.
The news source also added that apart from accidents, traffic police all over the country handled more than three million violations on the road, railway and waterways, collecting more than VND2 trillion worth of fines.
