It took me 4 trips traveling 800 km to pay my traffic fine

In January 2024, while driving in a province in the southeast, my car was caught running a red light. At the time, I did not receive any immediate notification about the violation. It was not until later, when I checked the traffic violation application, that I discovered the fine.

According to the application's instructions, the unit that detected the violation was in the province outside Ho Chi Minh City, but the unit that was responsible for processing it was in the HCMC district where my car is registered. When I asked about the payment procedure, I was told that because the violation was over a year old, I would need to go to the province where the violation was detected to settle it.

This meant I had to travel to the province to pay the fine.

A car on a Vietnamese national highway. Photo by VnExpress/Anh Duy

During my first trip, I was given two documents to fill: a report and a confirmation. The confirmation letter was meant for my company director to sign and stamp, confirming the company's assigning the car to me on that day (since the car is under the company's name). The report was for me, the driver, to sign and confirm.

I had to drive back to the city to get the director's signature and stamp.

Once I had all the necessary documents, I returned (the second trip) and submitted them, thinking the process was done. But I was told to come back 10 days later to receive the penalty decision (the third trip).

Ten days later, I returned to the province, received the penalty decision, and paid the fine.

And because the violation had led to a two-month suspension of my license, I had to come back two months later to retrieve it (the fourth trip).

In total, I had to go through five steps: one to the vehicle registration office and four trips to the province outside the city. In total, I traveled 800 km just to deal with this fine.

Isn't this process overly complicated? I hope the authorities will implement more effective measures to streamline the process for traffic fines, reducing inconvenience and costs for the public.