Penalties for many violations
Recently, the Traffic Police force has continuously discovered and handled many ambulances that abuse priority signals, use honking horns, and flashing lights that are not in accordance with regulations when traveling on the road.
This situation not only causes confusion for traffic participants but also reduces the effectiveness of the regulation on giving roads to priority vehicles.
Most recently, at 4:30 p.m. on February 13, during a patrol and control on National Highway 46B, Road Traffic Police Team No. 5 - Traffic Police Department, Nghe An Provincial Police discovered an ambulance with license plate 37B-032.XX, driven by driver T.V.P (born in 1991, residing in Muong Noc Commune, Que Phong District, Nghe An) showing signs of violation, so they signaled to stop the inspection.
At the time of the inspection, driver P turned on the priority light installed on the front of the vehicle to move, however, there was no patient inside the vehicle.
Driver P also could not prove that he was using a priority signal device to go on priority missions.
Previously, at 8:15 p.m. on February 12, the Patrol Control Team of Dien Chau Traffic Police Station (Nghe An) while on duty on National Highway 1A at km 445+500 also discovered an ambulance with license plate 37A-293.XX driven by driver N.H.S (residing in Dien Phu Commune, Dien Chau District), continuously honking.
The working group signaled to stop the vehicle for inspection and discovered that there were no patients on the ambulance, but the driver continued to use the priority horn.
The above two cases have been recorded for using priority transmission devices that are not in accordance with regulations.
Or on January 5, 2025, on Nghiem Xuan Yem Street (Hanoi), a working group of the Road Traffic Police Team No. 14 - Traffic Police Department of Hanoi City Police discovered a car with license plate 30E-741.XX, with an ambulance icon and attached, giving priority equipment, but carrying a "stormy" fan.
The authorities stopped the vehicle for inspection and discovered a series of serious violations by the driver, including: using priority equipment for the wrong purpose, driving the vehicle violating an alcohol concentration exceeding 0.4 milligrams/1 liter of breath, without a driver's license and related documents.
The total administrative fine for these violations is up to more than 60 million VND.
Discovering an ambulance violating the law, immediately report to the traffic police
Police vehicles, military vehicles or fire trucks all have recognizable characteristics because they are specialized vehicles, belonging to specialized functional forces.
However, on the current road, there are many vehicles with license plates of all kinds, white plates, and blue plates, continuously honking, making people not know which vehicles really need to be prioritized to give way.
According to the representative of the Hanoi Traffic Police Department, Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety 2024, vehicles with priority rights when performing their duties include: fire trucks, police vehicles, military vehicles, ambulances performing emergency tasks, dyke protection vehicles, vehicles performing emergency tasks to overcome natural disasters and epidemics, convoy vehicles, and vehicles performing emergency tasks according to Government regulations.
These vehicles must have priority signals in accordance with regulations and are only entitled to priority when on duty. Abusing priority signals not only violates legal regulations but also poses a potential risk of causing accidents and affecting traffic safety.
In fact, there have been cases where vehicles with license plates for emergency care but do not transport patients or do not perform emergency duties but still turn on lights and blow the whistle to ask for directions, causing public outrage.
The Hanoi Traffic Police force recommends that when people encountered vehicles giving priority signals on duty, they must absolutely comply with giving way according to regulations.
However, when detecting suspicious vehicles taking advantage of priority signals in violation of regulations, images can be recorded, sent to the iHanoi application, Zalo page "Hanoi Traffic Police Department" or hotline number 0243.942.4451 for reflection.
