With the increased fines stipulated in Decree 168/2024/ND-CP, road traffic safety will certainly be restored. In the past few days, according to press reports, drivers of cars, motorbikes and other vehicles have mostly complied strictly. It's the same for everyone, if you're in a hurry and lose a month's salary, you should be afraid.
Regarding the regulation on punishing motorbikes that ride on the sidewalk, people are very sympathetic. Because the sidewalk is for pedestrians, but motorbikes occupy almost all the space. Part of it is motorbikes from shops and stores, and motorbikes "circulate" to avoid traffic jams. Pedestrians have no way to walk, and are also threatened with loss of safety. There have been many accidents where motorbikes hit pedestrians on the sidewalk, a story that only happens in our country. Resolutely punishing motorbikes riding on the sidewalk is to restore safety to pedestrians.
The government invests a lot of money to build sidewalks, choosing beautiful, high-quality stones to serve people's travel and beautify the city. But motorbikes keep driving up the sidewalks, using the sidewalks as roads, and over time the sidewalks are plowed up, the paving stones are broken, damaged, and wasted. Not to mention, those broken sidewalks are dirty, ugly, dangerous, and ruin the beauty of the city.
Punishing motorcyclists running on the sidewalk is right, the fine must be high so that no one dares to violate.
But what about cars parked on the sidewalk?
In Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, there are many places where cars park on the sidewalk, taking up the entire pedestrian path. In some places, a group stands up and allows cars to park on the sidewalk, collects money for themselves, and considers the sidewalk as private property. Who allows cars to park on the sidewalk, who allows groups of people to organize this service to collect money?
Motorbikes running on the sidewalks damage the buildings, so do cars. The government spends money to build sidewalks for people to use, not to destroy them. If motorbikes are removed from the sidewalks, cars must also be removed from the sidewalks. We cannot allow parking service points to exist on the sidewalks as they are now.
The law is strict and fair. It is unfair to only fine motorbikes that drive on the curb but not cars that park on the sidewalk.
