Traffic accidents kill 110, injure 61 during New Year holidays

The scene of a serious traffic accident (Illustrative photo: VNA)

On average, there were nearly 28 deaths a day, higher than last year’s figure of 22.

Road traffic made up the majority of the accidents with 145 cases out of 147 and 109 deaths out of 110. The remaining two were blamed on rail transport, with one death and one injury.

The most serious accident was a collision between a passenger coach and a truck on National Road No 1 in the south central province of Binh Thuan, leaving two dead and seven wounded.

The top causes of accidents were speeding, driving in the wrong lane, changing lanes or direction without signalling, or driving under the influence, while violations like not wearing helmets were very common.

Traffic police officers handled over 19,200 violations, giving out fines of 16.3 billion VND (703,000 USD), revoking licences of 1,000 drivers and impounding more than 2,800 vehicles.

According to reports, on the first day of the four-day holiday, heavy traffic and frequent congestion were witnessed in the two largest cities in the country, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

On the contrary, even during afternoon rush hour on the last day, when masses of people were expected to return to Hanoi, important traffic junctions including Phap Van, Giai Phong, Thanh Tri bridge, Minh Khai, Tam Trinh and Chuong Duong bridge did not suffer serious jams, only slight difficulties in moving were reported due to higher traffic than usual.

During the holidays, the National Committee for Traffic Safety said it received 81 calls reporting coaches loading more passengers onto vehicles than allowed, collecting fees higher than the printed amount, and other types of road annoyances on the expressways./.

VNA