Traffic Accident Number Drops by 30 Percent in 2008

    Among those were road traffic accidents which occupied top rate with 447 cases, leading 441 people to death and 142 others to severe injury. Motor crashes made up 54% 0t the total cases, autos 18%, pedestrians 5.4% and non-motorized vehicles 2.4%. Most of the accidents were mainly caused by drivers’ and riders’ faults: traffic law violation, center line encroachment, careless observation, sudden passing-by, wrong lane driving and riding, drunkenness, speeding and so forth. Rate of railroad accidents ranked second with 19 cases causing 18 deaths and one injure. Causes accounting for the accidents ranged from people’s unconscious sitting, lying and walking on the rail to vehicle controllers’ careless attention. Waterway accidents counted up 8 cases, up 8 cases compared with 2007 due to vehicle’s safety condition and traffic regulation violation.

    Last year, number of traffic vehicles registered got increasing besides existing vehicles, leading to high transportation density. However, traffic jam was less severe thanks to good traffic guidance and control at “dark point”. In 2008, 48 cases of traffic jams occurred, down 34 ones in comparison with the same period of 2007. The jams were commonly caused by traffic crashes, broken-down vehicles, rain and flooding, and high density of traffic means at rush hours.

(Reported by Nguyen Le, Translated by L.H)