On the afternoon of January 16, in Hanoi, Lao Dong Newspaper organized a seminar: "Impact of traffic infrastructure on security, order and traffic safety".
At the Dialogue program, a representative of the Traffic Police Department (Ministry of Public Security) spoke up to explain many contents of special interest to the public, related to Decree 168/2024/ND-CP.
"Increasing fines is not aimed at maximizing the budget"
Lieutenant Colonel Ta Thi Hong Minh - Deputy Head of the Department of Propaganda and Investigation, Traffic Accident Resolution, Traffic Police Department (Ministry of Public Security) - said that after Decree 168/2024/ND-CP was implemented, the traffic accident situation has had clear changes, in which 3 main factors have significantly decreased, including: the number of deaths, the number of traffic accidents and the number of injured people.
Accordingly, from January 1 to January 14, 2025, there were 681 traffic accidents nationwide, killing 365 people and injuring 453 people, a decrease of 355 cases (-34.27%), 47 deaths (-11.41%), 426 injuries (-34.24%), compared to the same period, a decrease of 347 cases (-34.53%), 94 deaths (-20.47%), and 301 injuries (-39.92%). This improvement is noted and clearly demonstrated in all modes of transport.
Explaining the high fines, Lieutenant Colonel Ta Thi Hong Minh explained that when Decree 168 was implemented, it increased the fines for a number of acts and types of violations that are likely to cause traffic accidents. According to the viewpoint of relevant authorities and law enforcement agencies, the purpose of increasing the fines is not to "collect the most for the State budget", because in fact, the increase in fines has been implemented before, but it is not enough of a deterrent, and does not really reduce the frequency of traffic accidents, especially for a number of high-risk acts that are still a common problem.
Lieutenant Colonel Ta Thi Hong Minh assessed that after Decree 168 was issued, the phenomena of riding on the sidewalk, crowding, and running red lights have decreased significantly. These things create a beautiful image for tourists and international friends.
Creating a civilized and safe traffic environment will also help us attract investment for socio-economic development.
Traffic light error, traffic participants will not be punished
In recent days, traffic jams have been occurring frequently in big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. In particular, traffic lights at intersections are faulty (no signal lights), making it impossible for people to move.
Regarding this issue, Lieutenant Colonel Ta Thi Hong Minh assessed that some traffic lights are old, so there may be errors during operation. When the lights start to switch from peak hours to off-peak hours or vice versa, the device will have a certain delay.
"However, these errors are not as many as some social networking sites have reported recently," Senior Colonel Ta Thi Hong Minh affirmed.
To overcome this situation, the Traffic Police Department has sent a document to relevant agencies, requesting to review, adjust, maintain and even replace traffic signal equipment that no longer meets standards.
Lieutenant Colonel Ta Thi Hong Minh emphasized that traffic participants should rest assured about this issue. In handling traffic violations, especially red light violations, the authorities will not allow injustice to occur.
Because, during the punishment process, the authorities will provide evidence so that the violator can understand his/her violation process.
As for the case of the number of lights jumping (signal light error), the authorities will certainly not punish those violations.
Green light has 5 seconds left but people still stop to wait for red light, what does traffic police say?
Referring to this issue, Lieutenant Colonel Ta Thi Hong Minh said that the phenomenon of traffic participants stopping their vehicles early when the green light is still 5-6 seconds due to fear of running a red light - this behavior is also clearly regulated in the Law on Traffic Order and Safety.
When the traffic light has 5 seconds left, people can drive normally. Only when they start approaching the stop line and see the yellow light turn on, do they have to stop before the line.
With a green light or even when the traffic participant has entered the intersection and the yellow light is on, they can still continue to go.
Talking about the consequences of this action, according to Lieutenant Colonel Ta Thi Hong Minh, stopping with 5 seconds left will greatly affect the people and vehicles behind, leading to the risk of traffic jams, as well as possibly causing other unfortunate collisions.
