The Hanoi People's Committee is collecting public opinions on a draft resolution on fines on administrative violations in road traffic. 

Hanoi proposes raising fines by 1.5-2 times on 107 violations. Such action as driving the wrong way or turning around on a one-way road or on roads with “no entry” would be VND4-6 million, higher than the current VND2-3 million fine as stipulated in Decree 168.

For acts of driving on the wrong side of the road, or not driving within the designated lane, Decree 168 sets a fine of VND4-6 million for cars and VND600,000-800,000 for motorcycles, while Hanoi proposes a higher fine of VND8-12 and VND1.2-1.6 million, respectively.

Explaining the proposal for higher fines, the Hanoi People's Committee said that traffic violations still often continue, especially certain behaviours such as not adhering to road markings and signs, not wearing helmets, driving in the wrong direction, entering prohibited roads and incorrect lanes, among others.

The Law on Capital City effective on January 1 allows the municipal people’s council to set fines up to twice the amount determined by the Government for some administrative violations in road traffic.

Nguyen Van Thach, former Head of the Traffic Safety Department under the Ministry of Transport (MOT), told VietNamNet that after more than a month of implementing Decree 168, there have been many positive changes in traffic order and safety.

“This shows that the public awareness of traffic safety has improved. I think the high fines stipulated in the newly released Decree 168 have significantly improved people's compliance with the law,” said Thach.

Though Thach supports raising fines on violations, he believes that heavy fines should be applied to certain violations only that are very dangerous and may cause traffic accidents, not on all 107 violations.

Nguyen Van Thanh, former Chair of the Vietnam Automobile Transportation Association, also believes that Hanoi should not impose fines on many violations.

The extremely dangerous violations that need heavy sanction include deliberate modifying of truck beds, overloading, speeding, and high alcohol concentration levels.

Thach believes that instead of proposing increased fines, Hanoi needs to improve traffic organization, lane divisions, and traffic flow.

Nguyen Hong Thai from the University of Transport commented that Hanoi's urban traffic infrastructure is underdeveloped which complicates people’s compliance with regulations.

He said the most important solution to solve problems to the real "root" is developing public means of transport, especially urban railways, to reduce the number of private vehicles.

Dinh Hieu