Limiting driving hours, causing sharp income reduction
According to Article 64, the Law on Road Traffic Safety and Order (TTATGTDB) effective from January 1, 2025, drivers of automobiles for transport business are not allowed to drive vehicles continuously for more than 4 hours, no more than 10 hours/day and no more than 48 hours/week.
It has been 2 months since the maximum driving time per week was applied to drivers, Mr. Nguyen Duy Long - a driver specializing in driving on the Hanoi - Ha Giang route said that in the past 2 months, his income has decreased by nearly half.
Explaining this issue, Mr. Long shared: "My passenger route not only travels on the highway but also has to go through inner-city areas, where speed is limited. In some cases, traffic congestion has caused the vehicle to stall for a long time. However, these periods are still counted in my total driving time.
Therefore, in many cases, I have only been able to run about 200km, so my time is over and I have to change shifts for someone else. Having to arrange many drivers on one route has significantly reduced my salary and allowances."
Sharing about this issue, Mr. Duy Hung - a driver on the Hanoi - Thai Binh route said that once, while traveling on the highway without a rest stop, when the driving time expired according to regulations, Mr. Hung and the bus assistant were confused, not knowing how to handle it.
Along with that, Mr. Hung also informed that having to stop during the trip to avoid violating continuous driving times can slow down the process of transporting passengers or delivering goods to passengers, receiving many negative reviews from passengers.
"To improve the quality of service, for each case that passengers rate as not good for the trip, we have to pay a fine from the bus company. It can be deducted directly from salary or the fine can be paid on your own. However, most of them are not about service quality, but most of them are complaints about the travel time being longer than expected..." - Mr. Hung shared.
Positive reviews from increasing driving hours
The Vietnam Automobile Transport Association has continued to issue documents to the Prime Minister to adjust the driving time of transport business drivers to 70 hours/week.
Sharing with Lao Dong, Mr. Nguyen Van Quyen, Chairman of the Vietnam Automobile Transport Association, said: "According to statistics, the total working hours of car drivers in Vietnam are around 60-65 hours/week for short transport routes (under 300km) and exceed 65 hours/week for long transport routes (over 300km). However, when compared with the provisions of the Law on Road Traffic Safety on the limit of 48 hours/week, the actual working hours of drivers will be cut by about 20 - 30% for short-distance transport and over 30% for long-distance transport.
This leads to a corresponding decrease in drivers' income of 20 - 30% due to limited working hours. At the same time, the capacity to provide road transport services in the whole market has also decreased by 20 - 30%, causing transportation fees to increase by about 20 - 25%, increasing logistics costs by about 10 - 11%, affecting the competitiveness of the economy".
When asked about the basis for the proposal to increase driving time to 70 hours/week, the Chairman of the Vietnam Automobile Transport Association gave a series of citations such as: European Union (EU) regulations from 11.4.2007 allowing drivers to drive cars for a maximum of 56 hours/week; drivers in Japan are allowed to work for a maximum of 60 hours/week; The US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Management Department stipulates the maximum number of car driving hours from 60 - 70 hours/week;... From there, Mr. Quyen said that the regulation on driving time not exceeding 48 hours/week in Vietnam is too low.
For that reason, the Vietnam Automobile Transport Association has set a mark of 70 hours/week to recommend the Prime Minister to adjust the driving time of drivers of commercial automobiles for transportation, equal to the highest level according to the regulations of the US, EU and Japan.
The Chairman of the Vietnam Automobile Transport Association also commented that the increase in driving hours for drivers in transport business is based on research on the current status of the road traffic system, including infrastructure, signs, traffic organization regulations and vehicle density, etc.
For that reason, Mr. Quyen affirmed that increasing driving hours for drivers not only helps drivers improve their income but also solves difficulties for transportation businesses.
