An accident occurred on the Ho Chi Minh City – Trung Luong Expressway that killed five people on August 16, 2014. Photo: Phuong Ha
The Ministry of Transportation will seek a high-tech solution to its traffic accidents, which killed nearly 9,000 people in 2014.
At a conference held last week, Transport Minister Dinh La Thang instructed relevant agencies to draft a major plan to apply information technology to transportation management.
According to a report by the National Traffic Safety Committee, 8,996 people were killed and 24,417 others injured in traffic accidents nationwide between December 16, 2013 and December 15, 2014.
The figure represented a slight decline from the previous year, which saw 9,369 traffic-related deaths, but averages to roughly 24 deaths on Vietnam’s road, every day.
The agency reported that up to 47 percent of traffic fatalities this year occurred among people under 30.
Khuat Viet Hung, vice chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, said the drivers were at fault in 75 percent of 2014 traffic accidents.
“This showed the critical role the education sector and youth organizations could play in raising awareness about the importance of traffic safety among young people,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the country has seen a number of tragic accidents involving buses and trucks and in rural areas.
He criticized the ineffectual inspections of overloaded vehicles and other violations, as well as the nation’s poor infrastructure.
“Transportation demands have risen in time with the trend toward urbanization. We will have to do more to reduce traffic accidents,” he said.
Phuc said a recent parliamentary resolution set a goal of reducing traffic accidents from 5-10 percent in 2015.
He also gave a green light for an effort to seek high-tech solutions to the country’s traffic problems.
Truong Gia Binh, chairman of Vietnam Software and IT Service Association, said that the use of technology could halve the number of fatal traffic accidents by 2020.
Đăng ký: VietNam News