Laws of Vietnam

Over the past years the Government has issued directives and other documents to guide the control of traffic order and safety. However, so far the State management of traffic order and safety remains loose, instances of disregard for traffic discipline and order, and violations of traffic law in society are increasing, coupled with the backwardness and degradation of the infrastructure, especially in transport and communications in the whole country, more particularly in the major urban centers. This is causing a major and direct obstacle to the process of industrialization and modernization of our country, and is the direct cause of the increased disorder and congestion in urban traffic and of many traffic accidents including major ones which caused serious losses to the property of the State and the lives and property of the people.

In order to quickly restore discipline and laws, strengthen the State control of traffic order and safety, and limit to the minimum the number of traffic accidents, overcome traffic congestion in urban centers, especially in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, thus meeting the common aspiration of the people throughout the country, the Prime Minister instructs:

1. The ministries, branches and People's Committees in the provinces and cities to urgently concentrate on directing the control of traffic order and safety, considering this to be an important task in 1995 and the following years. In the immediate future, they should concentrate on making the control of order and safety of traffic on land roads and in the urban centers a regular practice, in order to effect a visible change in the following respects:

- On land roads: it is strictly forbidden to use the roadbeds and roadsides as drying yards or for keeping building materials and other obstacles, and to hold market or build illegal constructions within the traffic corridor along land roads.

- In urban centers: Efforts must be concentrated on decongesting the hubs most prone to traffic jams, putting an end to the infringement on the pavements and roadbeds, to keep or wash vehicles or to conduct production and business activities; putting an end to the construction or enlargement of houses in the tree protection corridor or the technical construction protection corridor, and ensuring public hygiene.

- It is strictly forbidden to use technically unsafe vehicles, oversize or overloaded vehicles, vehicles causing environmental pollution, vehicles driven by unlicensed drivers, or drivers who still smell beer, alcohol and other stimulants in their mouth; to hold illegal vehicle races, drive vehicles in zigzag on the roads reserved for land traffic, especially in urban centers.

To carry out the above tasks, it is necessary to undertake the following urgent works:

The Ministry of Communications and Transport, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice shall complete early the draft Decree and Regulations on ensuring order and safety of traffic on land roads and in urban centers, the Decree on imposing administrative sanctions on violations of the Regulations on order and safety of traffic on land roads and in urban centers, to submit to the Government for promulgation in June 1995.

The ministries and central branches, the People's Committees at all levels shall have to seriously review their responsibility in the recent past, and draw up plans and measures for detailed guidance in order to strengthen the State control on order and safety of traffic on land roads and in urban centers in their localities and branches.

Serious control shall be conducted over and severe penalties shall be meted out at the administration in the localities who lease or allow the use of roadbeds and pavements for production and business activities or for parking vehicles (including special-purpose vehicles), or erecting obstacles causing traffic congestion. All measures must be taken to immediately clear the roadbeds, roadsides and pavements and the traffic corridor which have been infringed upon in order to ensure orderly, safe and civilized traffic.

The Ministry of Communications and Transport shall preside over and cooperate with the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Construction to carry out the planning of traffic lines and lanes in the urban centers to ensure convenience of traffic, the erection of traffic signs and signals, and adoption of a plan to decongest the key traffic hubs in the cities; define the time for the movement of each kind of transport means on each communication line, especially in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The Ministry of the Interior shall preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Communications and Transport and the Ministry of Defense to clearly define the responsibility in the management and control, and in the strict handling of the violations of order and safety of traffic on land roads and in urban centers for people within and outside the army.

The Ministry of the Interior shall coordinate with the Ministry of Communications and Transport and in conformity with their functions, adopt the plan for a general survey and technical classification of the different means of transport, control the driving licenses and the permits for use of different means of transport, and resolutely suspend the circulation of those means which do not ensure the technical safety norms, and to withdraw the driving licenses and permits for use of the illegal means of transport.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, the Ministry of Aquatic Resources, the People's Committees at various levels shall have to guide the people in the communes bordering the communication axis in the building of drying yards, or assign places that might be used as drying yards, for farm and marine products. Resolutely not to allow the use of roadbeds as drying yards.

The Ministry of Defense shall closely direct the registration of means, carry out technical control of the means and driving licenses, the number plates of vehicles, and ensure that all the means of transport of the army operating on the public roads are safe. The means of transport of the units of the army engaged in economic activities must apply the regulations as the civil transport means.

The Ministry of Education and Training shall preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Communications and Transport and the Ministry of the Interior to compile the teaching program on the law on safety of traffic on land roads and in urban centers, and to introduce it for formal teaching at all schools from the infant classes to the universities.

The Ministry of Culture and Information shall preside over and, together with the Ministry of Communications and Transport, coordinate with the Central Ideology and Culture Commission to compile documents on order and safety of traffic on land roads and in urban centers so that all mass and social organizations, State and non-State enterprises, the armed forces, the administration at all levels and the mass media at the center and in the localities can implement them. They also have to coordinate to organize all forms of publicity and education about the objectives, requirements and contents of the Decree, Regulations and this Directive so that all strata of the population and all families understand, support and seriously implement these regulations and directives.

The Ministry of the Interior shall have to rearrange the traffic police and train it in order to carry out well the task of controlling and fining the violations of order and safety of traffic on land roads and in urban centers.

The fining of violations of traffic order and safety must be done accurately and equally according to law, and the offender alone has to bear responsibility. In case the offender is a minor, his/her parents or tutor shall have to pay the fine. The persons who discharge their public duty in ensuring traffic order and safety but who violate the regulations of the current law shall also be seriously disciplined.

The Ministry of Finance shall preside over and together with the Ministry of Communications and Transport and the Ministry of the Interior issue uniform regulations and guidance on the collection of fines to ensure convenience and avoid negative acts in this respect.

From now to the 31st of July 1995, all the ministries, branches, the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall, within their function and powers, urgently complete the preparatory works like: perfecting the organization, training, carrying out publicity and education in order to achieve unity in perception and unity of action in the handling of relevant affairs. From the 1st of August 1995 they shall simultaneously conduct regular control and handling of violations of order and safety of traffic on land roads and in urban centers throughout the country according to this Directive.

During the time of preparing for the implementation of the new regulations, the current regulations on order and safety of traffic on land roads and in urban centers shall continue to apply.

The plans of implementation of this Directive by the ministries, branches and the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall have to be reported to the Prime Minister before the 30th of June 1995.

Every month, the ministries, branches and the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall have to conduct reviews in order to evaluate the results and draw the experiences and supplement the plan, and adopt appropriate measures to direct the subsequent drives and report them to the Prime Minister.

In implementation of this Directive, in the immediate future the branches and echelons shall have to work out their programs and plans focusing on resolving immediately the concrete problems in order to create a visible change in order and safety of traffic on land roads and in urban centers.

Along with implementing this Directive, the Minister of Communications and Transport shall preside over and, together with the concerned ministries and branches, shall have to immediately set to work out the legal documents and guiding plans to ensure order and safety of traffic on river, by railway, on the sea and by air to submit to the Prime Minister in the 4th quarter of 1995.

The Ministers, the Heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the Heads of the agencies attached to the Government, the Presidents of the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall have to organize the close guidance, and report periodically to the Prime Minister the results of the implementation of this Directive.

Prime Minister