Drivers on drugs, a growing menace

At 653, the number represented a 2.7-fold increase from the same period last year, when 239 tested positive. Vietnam mostly tests drug use on truck drivers.

According to the Traffic Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security, in the first six months there were 1.83 million cases of violation of traffic laws on roads, rail and waterways.

Officers collected fines totaling VND1.62 trillion ($69.5 million) from violators, canceled nearly 151,000 driving licenses and professional certificates and seized 304,955 vehicles.

The number of cases was down by 8 percent, but the fines were more than 26 percent higher.

There were 1.76 million cases of violations on roads, 86,044 related to alcohol, 18,617 to overloading, 177,569 to speeding, and 304,213 to helmet wearing.

There were 5,756 violations on rail and 71,739 in waterways.