The Traffic Police Department (CSGT), Ministry of Public Security, said that traffic accidents involving trucks and passenger cars increased, accounting for 1/3 of the total cases in the first 6 months of this year.
The awareness of traffic participation of transport business drivers is still limited. In particular, there are some cases of intentional violations such as: driving low-speed vehicles in the left lane close to the median strip (especially large trucks, container trucks); constantly changing lanes, obstructing and limiting the circulation of the highway.
The Traffic Police Department requested the Vietnam Road Administration to coordinate in implementing the pilot plan to reorganize traffic, divide lanes, and divert vehicles on the Hanoi - Hai Phong expressway and the Phap Van - Cau Gie expressway section. Accordingly, trucks and passenger cars operating in the left lane within the same median strip are prohibited.
This proposal was approved by public opinion because it is consistent with current reality. That is, on highways, trucks and passenger cars running in lanes close to the median strip (lane 1) often obstruct traffic.
The truck was running in lane 1 at a slow speed, with a convoy of vehicles behind it holding their feet. There were many cases where two trucks ran in parallel, with no vehicles being able to pass behind, causing congestion.
Expressway is for vehicles to travel at high speeds, any vehicle that runs too slowly, causing traffic obstruction, that is a violation.
Although there are regulations to punish the act of "driving a vehicle at a speed below the minimum speed on a road section with a prescribed minimum speed limit", many drivers who run at a speed of about 60km/h do not violate.
The highway allows vehicles to run at speeds of 100 - 120 km/h, if the previous vehicle runs at 60 km/h, many other vehicles will be obstructed and affected.
Therefore, the regulation prohibiting trucks and passenger cars from entering lane 1 is reasonable, drivers who want to run at slow speed should only go to the right lane.
Many countries in the world have regulated speed on highways, overpasses, and lanes for slow-running vehicles to minimize traffic congestion.
Vietnam has many expressways that have been put into use, many other expressways are about to be completed. To effectively exploit the expressway system, there needs to be regulations on organizing traffic on expressways that are scientific and suitable to reality.
The proposal to ban trucks from entering the median strip is a scientific way to organize traffic, so after piloting the Hanoi - Hai Phong and Phap Van - Cau Gie expressways, it should be studied and applied to expressways nationwide.
