Driver fined for reversing on Hà Nội ring road

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội’s Traffic Police Unit 7 has fined the driver of a four-seater car VNĐ1 million (US$43) for reversing down a ring road.

The driver has also had his driving licence revoked for two months.

On December 4, a video clip was posted on Facebook capturing the car driving backwards on the busy ring road 3 connecting Pháp Vân and Nguyễn Trãi. The driver reversed 500 metres to get to the Nguyễn Trãi-Khuất Duy Tiến intersection despite hundreds of vehicles speeding past him.

The clip was shared and stirred public outrage.

Major Nguyễn Đức Thắng, acting head of Traffic Police Unit 7, said they had studied the clip and established the car belonged to a man in Hà Đông District’s La Khê Ward.

Owner Đỗ Văn Cường subsequently said that his friend Đào Cao Công had been driving at the time. Công admitted the violation to police.

In a separate incident in November 2016, 40-year-old Ngô Văn Sơn was driving a seven-seater Toyota Innova carrying ten passengers on the Hà Nội-Thái Nguyên Expressway when he decided to reverse to get to the Yên Bình exit.

At the same time, Lê Ngọc Hoàng, 33, was driving an articulated lorry behind the car at 60-65km per hour and crashed into the back of the Innova.

The collision killed four people instantly. The car driver was sentenced to nine years in prison for reversing on an expressway, drink driving and carrying too many passengers. Hoàng, meanwhile, received six years behind bars for failing to keep a safe trailing distance from the car in front. — VNS