A collision between two motorbikes on a road in Vietnam during the first six days of the Tet break. Photo credit: Otofun
Vietnam recorded a high number of traffic deaths over the Lunar New Year holiday, with 246 dead and 415 injured, a government official said Sunday.
The government granted state employees nine days off for the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, which began on February 15 and end Monday (February 23).
During the first seven days of the break, 427 road accidents occurred across Vietnam, killing 246 and injuring 415 others, news website VietNamNet quoted Khuat Viet Hung, vice chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, as saying Sunday.
On February 21 alone, the second day after the start of the holiday, 87 traffic accidents left 47 dead and 89 others injured.
All the accidents occurred on the road, the National Traffic Safety Committee said in a report Saturday. An overwhelming majority of them were caused by motorcyclists who breached traffic rules, such as driving under the influence of alcohol, not wearing safety helmets or piling too many people onto one motorcycle, the report said.
It noted an “spike” in deaths caused by traffic accidents over the same period last year. Hung, the traffic safety official, as quoted by VietNamNet as saying that during the first seven days of the holiday, the number of accidents decreased to 427 from 462 cases reported in the same period last year, but the the number of traffic deaths rose by 32.
Road accidents and their resulting fatalities have increased accordingly and took place in a “complicated” fashion on national highways and in rural areas, the report said.
Traffic accidents are not uncommon to motorbike-dominated Vietnam, which often records a spike in casualties during national holidays.
During the nine-day Tet break last year, 286 people were killed and 324 injured in traffic accidents.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
