The faulty traffic light caused traffic congestion in this area for many hours.
Traffic jams are caused by drivers not daring to overtake for fear of being caught at a red light. Motorcyclists are "flexible" by getting off their motorbikes and walking across the intersection, but car drivers have to wait in line. A clip recording people walking their motorbikes across the intersection was posted on social media, with people upset that the traffic light management unit in this area has not fulfilled its responsibility, causing people to suffer.
Not only were the traffic lights broken, at around 11am on January 10, terrible traffic jams occurred on many central streets of Ho Chi Minh City. According to the reporter's records, near Tet, the number of vehicles increased and because people did not dare to climb the curb or turn right when the light was red, the entire road was blocked. With such a packed traffic situation, the ambulance had no way to escape because there was no space for the vehicles in front to give way.
On the same afternoon, at many major intersections in Ho Chi Minh City, additional right-turn signals for motorbikes were installed, especially in the city center. Thanks to the lights allowing motorbikes to turn right, the number of vehicles stopping and waiting has been reduced, reducing traffic congestion on the streets.
Near Tet, traffic is very crowded, if appropriate traffic organization plans are not implemented, Ho Chi Minh City will have serious traffic jams, affecting people's travel, daily life and business.
Therefore, allowing motorbikes to turn right is not enough to quickly solve the problem of waiting vehicles. It is necessary to study the possibility of cars turning right at safe and convenient intersections. We should not mechanically force cars to stop at red lights at all intersections, but flexibly allow cars to turn right under suitable conditions. That is scientific traffic organization.
Installing additional traffic lights and signs is an immediate task, but in the long term, we must build more overpasses to resolve traffic jam black spots in the area.
Currently, Ho Chi Minh City is managing more than 9.5 million vehicles (including more than 1 million cars and nearly 8.5 million motorbikes) and will continue to increase. Therefore, it is necessary to implement public transport projects as quickly as possible, otherwise traffic jams will be an "incurable" disease.
