A bus on National Highway 18A. Switches have been installed in many vehicles to deactivate black boxes used to detect when they exceed the speed limit. - VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Dan
HA NOI (VNS)- Switches have been installed in many vehicles to deactivate black boxes that are supposed to detect when they exceed the speed limit, according to the Directorate for Roads of Viet Nam.
The directorate asked transport departments across the country to tighten inspections and punish drivers, transport firms and black box providers if their equipment failed to transmit data to the directorate or contained a switch that automatically turned off the black boxes in cases of speeding.
Under the Transport Ministry’s Circular 55, which took effect last April, transport businesses face one- to three-month suspensions if they fail to provide required information extracted from black boxes. This includes speed as well as driving and stopping time.
This month, the directorate launched a pilot digital map of vehicle speed based on signals from vehicles running on National Highway 5. By the end of last month, the system had received data from 69,200 vehicles, about 60 per cent of the total number reported operating.
However, this percentage dropped to less than 50 per cent in Ca Mau, Binh Phuoc, Khanh Hoa and Dong Nai in the south, Bac Ninh, Ha Noi and Thai Binh in the north and Nghe An, Quang Nam and Ba Ria- Vung Tau in the centre.
Directorate head Nguyen Van Huyen said that there was no regulation empowering traffic police to use data extracted from black boxes to fine drivers for speeding.
He recommended that starting next year, drivers be fined if exceeding the speed limit by 35km/h. As of 2016, those exceeding the limit by 20 km/h would be fined.
Chairman of Ha Noi Transport Firms’ Association Bui Danh Lien said that drivers, transport firms, black box providers and management agencies must co-operate to improve the quality of black boxes. When the black boxes failed to function, that should be blamed on the producers, rather than drivers or transport companies, he said. – VNS
Đăng ký: VietNam News
