HCMCity (VNA) - Traffic police and authorities in HCM City are concernedabout low road safety awareness of road users, which results in a large numberof traffic accidents in the city.

Themost common traffic violations are speeding, drunk driving, driving in thewrong direction, driving in the wrong lane, talking on the phone while driving,and driving side by side, according to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Cuong,head of the Traffic Police Division’s accident investigation and traffic team.

Lowawareness and wrong behaviours on road safety cannot be altered by persuasionalone, but require tough measures and large fines, he said.

BrigadierTran Sơn, former deputy head of the law enforcement and traffic investigationunder the Ministry of Public Security, is also concerned about low road safetyawareness among road users, saying they only follow traffic regulations in thepresence of traffic police.

“Wemust aim for a higher level of traffic culture where road users voluntarilycomply with traffic regulations, and such voluntary attitudes should benurtured and developed into an unconditioned reflex,” he said at a road safetyforum held in the city last Sunday. He cited a number of recent traffic accidentsin which a few absent-minded seconds cost dozens of lives.

PermanentVice Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, Khuat Viet Hung, saidone of the values that should be pursued in order to create such drivingculture is the willingness to obey traffic laws, especially the habit to giveway to other drivers and pedestrians.

Datacompiled by the city’s road and railway traffic police division show 173accidents occurred last year, killing 156 people and accounting for 20 percentof the total number of accidents in the city, the Tuoi Tre newspaperreported. Only two accidents were attributed to poor-quality trafficinfrastructure and unsafe roads, the remaining were the result of trafficviolations, the newspaper said.

Healso advised young road users to start training themselves to comply withtraffic regulations from the simplest of behaviours. “A lot of young peoplenowadays prefer small rearview mirrors and stylish helmets, which are unsafefor driving,” he said. “Use standard helmets, use authorised mirrors from yourmotorbike’s distributors, and secure them onto your motorbikes in a properway.”

TranQuang Lam, deputy director of the city’s transport department, referred to the“Vision Zero” road traffic safety project by Sweden – which aims for zero fatalities or serious injuries in road traffic 20years from now – as an example of traffic accident prevention.

TheSwedish government has assumed responsibility for the prevention of roadaccidents, according to Lam, initiating actions to change drivers’ behaviours,as well as understanding the actual conditions of the country’s trafficinfrastructure and citizens’ habits and level of awareness, he said.

Linkingit to Vietnam, Lam stressed the importance of authorities’ participation and collaborationwith citizens in striving for higher road safety targets.

“Roadusers in Europe often shake hands, smile and apologise to each other whentraffic incidents happen,” he said. “It’s the job of police officers andinsurance companies to determine who’s right, who’s wrong, and how to resolvethe case.” -VNA