Speeding drunk driver kills three in Vietnam’s Central Highlands

By Khanh Huong   January 4, 2019 | 12:10 am PT
Speeding drunk driver kills three in Vietnam’s Central Highlands
The car is badly damaged after the accident on Tuesday that killed three people and injured four others in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong. Photo by VnExpress/Khanh Huong
A criminal investigation has been launched against a drunk female driver after three people died in Lam Dong Tuesday night.

Police in Duc Trong District said Thursday that Do Thuc Han, 23, was driving her car at 107 kilometers per hour, far beyond the speed limit of 60 kmp for the road section, when the accident happened.

Preliminary investigations show she had drunk lots of beer at a friend’s birthday party. After the party, the woman drove five of her friends home.

As the car sped on National Highway 20, she lost control and hit a motorbike driven by Nguyen Van Huy, 30, moving in the same direction.

The car then crashed the sidewalk and hit a tree before overturning in the middle of the road.

Three of her five friends in the car died on the spot while Han and the other two suffered serious injuries and were rushed to local hospital for treatment. The motorbike driver, Huy, was also injured and hospitalized.

Vo Van Phuong, head of traffic safety committee in Duc Trong, said breath tests on Han showed 1.108 miligrams per liter. The alcohol level allowed for car drivers in Vietnam is zero, and for motorbike drivers, up to 0.25 milligrams per liter.

Investigations are ongoing even as police wait to get testimony from Han, who’s still in the hospital.

This is the latest among a spate of deadly accidents caused by drunk drivers in Vietnam.

A few days ago, 32-year-old truck driver Pham Thanh Hieu who got drunk and consumed heroin, rammed into many motorbikes waiting at a traffic light in the southern province of Long An. The horrific accident left four people dead and 16 others seriously injured.

Last October, a woman in Saigon ran her BMW car into several motorbikes waiting at a traffic light at the Hang Xanh intersection in HCMC. At least one person died and five people were injured in the accident.

Nguyen Thi Nga, 46, a restaurant owner, had used a lot of alcohol, police said.

Road crashes are a common cause of death in Vietnam, killing almost one person every hour, according to official figures.

Flouting road safety norms and causing deaths is punishable by up to 15 years in jail.

 
 
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