When news broke that new regulations would fine those driving vehicles not registered in their name, many were confused and unhappy. For Vietnamese, motorbikes are often shared among numerous family members and foreigners sometimes rent their bikes and are lucky to have any paperwork for their bikes. Public outcry has forced the Ministry of Transport to abandon these fines as revealed in the latest draft of the decree.

In the earlier draft of Decree 71, motorbike drivers faced a fine of VND1.2 million and for driving without proper paperwork.

In addition to public outcry, Nguyen Hoang Tung of the Ministry of Transport’s Traffic Safety Department said that the responsibilities of the transferor and transferee were not clearly defined.

Director of the Ministry of Public Security's Road and Railway Traffic Police Department, Nguyen Van Tuyen, was disappointed by the news, saying that viechle trading is becoming more common and unregulated.

The most recent draft of Decree 71 has a few other changes of note such as removal of fines for drivers wearing substandard helmets. Officials said that police don’t have the tools to tell whether a helmet is inferior and that manufacturers should be responsible for helmet quality. Sure…

While the above changes make some sense in theory, the draft reduces the penalties for a number of violations that in reality, should probably be raised.

The most obvious being drunk driving fines which would be reduced from VND10 million to VND8 million. Another gem is the change to the maximum duration of driving bans to 4 months, down from a lifetime ban.

This draft of the decree should be submitted to the government by the end of the month.

[VNS // Photo via Galen Stolee]