Traffic accidents drop over 19 percent in Q1

The accidents killed 1,676 people, down 67 (3.84 percent), and injured 1,742, down 739 (29.8 percent). According to Vice Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee Khuat Viet Hung, the majority of the accidents happened on the road (2,731 cases, down 665 cases or 19.34 percent year on year).

The fatalities in road accidents came to 1,630, a reduction of 80 deaths or 4.68 percent. There were 18 railway accidents , claiming the lives of 11 and causing injury to 6, down 2 cases, 5 deaths and 1 injured person. On the nation’s waterways, 12 accidents happened, killing 25 and injured 1, down 2 cases but up 15 in fatalities.

Meanwhile, 10 people died and went missing in one maritime accident in the period. In the field of civil aviation , one A-level accident was recorded in flying training and 14 incidents that posed a threat to safety at levels C (1 incident) and D (13 incidents), a reduction of 21.1 percent year on year.

Minister of Transport and Standing Vice Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee Nguyen Van The said despite the decreases in accidents and fatalities, the goal of reducing traffic accident fatalities by 5-10 percent has not been achieved.

He required local administrations to take more drastic actions to curb traffic accidents and deaths.

The minister urged the mass media to promote communication campaigns to raise public awareness about traffic rules. He also directed relevant forces to intensify road patrol to prevent and timely handle violations of traffic rules, especially during the upcoming national holidays on the Reunification Day (April 30) and May Day./.