Thousands of black spots of traffic accidents
According to a report by the Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee, there are currently 5,006 traffic black spots in the area, with 7,753 items that pose a risk to traffic safety.
In April 2024, Lao Cai Provincial Police issued 11 documents recommending the Vietnam Road Administration, the Department of Transport, and People's Committees at all district levels to take action to overcome and completely resolve black spots with high risk of traffic accidents.
However, after more than 4 months of implementation, the results of overcoming and resolving black spots, potential traffic accident spots and existing and unreasonable problems in traffic organization are still limited with 1,004/5,006 spots; 1,501/7,753 items.
Notably, many units and localities achieved low results such as Bac Ha district has overcome 77/209 points, Vietnam Road Administration has overcome 52/294 points, Department of Transport has overcome 78/1094 points, Van Ban district has overcome 23/905 points, Bao Yen district has overcome 5/314 points.
Some localities have no implementation results such as Bat Xat district: 0/392, Bao Thang district: 0/303 points; Sa Pa town: 0/181 points...
According to statistics, in the first 9 months of 2024, Lao Cai province had 147 road traffic accidents, killing 55 people and injuring 122 people.
Typically, at around 10:00 p.m. on September 7, at Km5+200m, Provincial Road 151, through residential group 5, Tang Loong town, Bao Thang district, a serious traffic accident occurred between a motorbike and a car, killing two people on the motorbike.
On National Highway 4D, through Muong Khuong district, many sections have continuous sharp curves, small radius, obstructed visibility, and narrow road surface, so traffic accidents often occur.
Find a solution
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy (residing in Thanh Binh commune, Muong Khuong district) said: “Every day I travel on National Highway 4D 2-3 times to get to Lao Cai. There are some places where accidents often occur due to dangerous curves and slopes that block the driver’s vision.”
Mr. Ly Van Thang (residing in Lung Vai commune, Muong Khuong district) also said that people living along National Highway 4D really hope that authorities at all levels will speed up the progress of fixing potential traffic accident spots.
Regarding this issue, on October 15, Chairman of Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee Trinh Xuan Truong issued a document requesting departments and branches to focus on resolving and overcoming black spots and potential accident risk points. Determined to reduce and sustainably control traffic accidents in the area in the last months of 2024.
In particular, priority should be given to speeding up the installation of speed bumps at intersections to limit the speed of traffic participants and prevent accidents.
For groups of construction items that cannot be immediately fixed, there must be temporary solutions such as: installing additional convex mirrors at curved locations with limited visibility; repairing and reinforcing weak bridges with low load capacity...
Regarding the fact that many localities have zero results in handling black spots, on October 17, speaking with a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper, the leader of the Lao Cai Department of Transport said that the main reason for not being able to handle all black spots and spots with potential traffic accident risks is due to lack of funding.
In addition, due to the impact of storms and floods, Lao Cai this year suffered heavy damage to people and property, especially to transport infrastructure. The work to overcome landslides took a lot of time and is still not completed.
“In the immediate future, we will continue to overcome landslides and coordinate with units to conduct reviews, then propose to superiors to arrange capital for investment and handling,” informed the leader of Lao Cai Department of Transport.
