HA NOI (VNS) – On-road sleeper buses face being pulled over and taken to weighing stations for the next two weeks to collect technical data. The vehicles will also be given other safety tests.
General Director of the Directorate for Roads under the Ministry of Transport, Nguyen Van Huyen, said, “Overloaded sleeper buses will not be fined because the object is to collect technical figures.”
Sleeper buses will be weighed when they are loaded with passengers and freight – and again when they are empty,” said Huyen.
Deputy Minister of Transport, Le Dinh Tho, announced the checks and weigh-ins last month.
He said freight piled on sleeper buses could be cause bus accidents by shifting the centre of gravity, making drivers lose control.
The Directorate for Roads has ordered each local Department of Transport, including Ha Noi, Quang Ninh, Lam Dong and HCM City, to perform the measurements on 10 to 15 buses.
Last month, the transport ministry proposed banning sleeper buses from travelling on narrow and curved routes in mountainous areas. This followed the deaths of more than a dozen people when a sleeper bus left the road near Sa Pa.
Bus companies were asked to employ drivers who had three years’ experience in driving 30-seat buses and to carefully monitor bus technical standards and black boxes.
Director of the motor registry office, Tran Ky Hinh, said there were more than 4,500 sleeper buses in the country.
“In the last two years, there have been 22 accidents involving sleeper buses, of which 19 occurred at night,” Hinh said. – VNS
Đăng ký: VietNam News