On August 8, information from the Ministry of Public Security said that, implementing the policy of innovating traffic organization thinking in a scientific and modern direction, taking traffic accident prevention and improving the efficiency of infrastructure exploitation as goals, the Traffic Police Department (CSGT) of the Ministry of Public Security has coordinated with the Vietnam Road Administration (Ministry of Construction) to study many traffic organization solutions in a new direction.
Among them, a content that is being concerned about is researching the arrangement of the outermost left lane, adjacent to the median strip on the expressway to make a dedicated lane for overtaking vehicles.
According to this plan, vehicles are only allowed to use dedicated lanes to overtake when they need to overtake. After completing the overtaking, the vehicle operator must immediately move to the right lane suitable for the speed of traffic; they are not allowed to circulate continuously on the overtaking lane.
This proposal stems from the reality that there is still a situation where some vehicles move at low speed but stick to the left lane, hindering vehicles that need to travel at higher speeds, reducing operating capacity and travel capacity, and at the same time posing a potential risk of traffic unsafety on the highway.
Previously, the Traffic Police Department had coordinated to pilot a number of solutions, including regulations that trucks and passenger cars are only allowed to use lanes close to the median strip to overtake vehicles on eligible routes such as Hanoi - Hai Phong, Phap Van - Cau Gie - Ninh Binh, Noi Bai - Lao Cai (Hanoi - Phu Tho section)... Through practical implementation, the initial solutions recorded many positive results.
To continue to improve the plan, the Traffic Police Department has publicly announced the research content in the mass media to gather widespread opinions from people, experts and transport businesses.
According to the Ministry of Public Security, through summarizing, most opinions agreed with the policy of organizing dedicated lanes for overtaking vehicles; and at the same time requested clarification of requirements on infrastructure conditions, signal systems, propaganda work, as well as methods of monitoring and handling violations.
In addition, some opinions expressed concern about the implementation conditions for expressways with less than 2 lanes. The contributed opinions were all summarized, researched and absorbed in the process of completing the plan before organizing implementation.
On that basis, the Traffic Police Department in coordination with the Vietnam Road Administration continues to study and plan to pilot regulations on dedicated lanes for overtaking on the Hanoi - Hai Phong expressway (each direction has 3 lanes for driving and 1 lane for emergency stopping); and the Cau Gie - Cao Bo expressway (each direction has 2 lanes for driving and 1 lane for emergency stopping).
According to the pilot plan, the outermost left lane, adjacent to the median strip, is identified as a lane reserved for overtaking vehicles. Before organizing traffic according to this plan, the Traffic Police Department will focus on propaganda and widespread information to help vehicle drivers understand the regulations, proactively implement them correctly and ensure safety when participating in traffic.
The Ministry of Public Security said that the pilot implementation of "organizing overtaking lanes on highways" is the next step in the process of innovating traffic organization thinking towards science and modernity.
This solution aims to form a culture of using lanes properly, improving traffic capacity, reducing traffic conflicts and preventing accidents.
The pilot results will be the basis for assessing suitability and effectiveness before considering expanding on expressways that meet sufficient conditions.
