During the first eight months of this year, Vietnam recorded over 13,000 cases of traffic accidents, marking a decrease of 7 percent on-year, according to the General Statistics Office.
February, when millions of people return to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year, saw the highest number of accidents. Each month, around 600 to 800 people died in traffic accidents, meaning at least 20 people are killed every day. This August, the number of the deaths and traffic accidents rose 7.8 percent and 7 percent on-year.
Since August 1, larger fines for both car and motorbike drivers who break traffic laws have been issued. In just two weeks, a marked improvement was seen in Hanoi with the number of accidents, deaths and injuries all falling, said Nguyen Manh Hung, deputy head of Hanoi Police.
The bigger fines seem to be compelling people to conform with the rules, Hung added. Hanoi issued approximately 22,000 fines in the first two weeks of August, collecting VND6 billion ($275,000) for the state budget.
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