Traffic Police Department informs about "stop counting traffic lights"

On January 1, 2025, the Traffic Police Department posted a response to concerns about the increased fines for non-compliance with traffic light signals according to Decree 168/2024/ND-CP, while information appeared that "the counting of traffic light seconds would be stopped".

A representative of the Traffic Police Department said that eliminating the counting of traffic lights is only a proposal and a small-scale pilot project at a few intersections in Ho Chi Minh City.

Accordingly, the Law on Road Traffic Safety clearly stipulates that traffic lights have three colors: yellow, green, and red. At the same time, the law also stipulates that signal lights can have or not have a time display (second counter).

Regarding concerns that some intersections may have traffic lights that are malfunctioning, a representative of the Traffic Police said that at current intersections, the vast majority are equipped with surveillance camera systems and operational and maintenance forces.

At the same time, when people encounter cases where they are not properly fined, they have the right to complain according to regulations, or even file a lawsuit in an administrative court. When receiving a complaint, the traffic police will certainly compare and consider related factors.

At the same time, the representative of the Traffic Police Department also affirmed that drivers who do not obey traffic lights to give way to priority vehicles, ambulances, etc. will not be punished. The reason is that the Law on Handling Administrative Violations stipulates that administrative violations will not be punished in cases where administrative violations are committed in urgent situations.

At the same time, this code also clearly states that an urgent situation is a situation in which an individual or organization, in order to avoid a real risk that threatens the interests of the State, the organization, their legitimate rights and interests or those of others, has no other choice but to cause a damage smaller than the damage that needs to be prevented.