Road safety group calls for zero tolerance for drunk driving

Alcohol impairment is a major risk factor in Vietnam that cannot be tolerated, said the Global Road Safety Partnership, an organization working towards improving road safety.

“A zero-tolerance approach to enforcing legislation that gets alcohol-impaired drivers and riders off the road before someone is injured or killed is one of the most effective of road safety interventions,” Gayle DiPietro, a GRSP official, said in a statement released Monday.

The organization is coordinating with the Vietnam National and Provincial Traffic Safety Committees and the World Health Organization to organize a road safety workshop in the northern provice of Ha Nam from October 18-20.

It is part of a global program to improve road safety for ten countries with the highest burdens of traffic injury.

Last month, the group held a training workshop at the People’s Police Academy in Hanoi, focusing on enhanced enforcement strategies, tactics and procedures for the effective prevention of drinking and driving, including the use of alcohol breathalyzers.

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Road safety group calls for zero tolerance for drunk driving

Alcohol impairment is a major risk factor in Vietnam that cannot be tolerated, said the Global Road Safety Partnership, an organization working towards improving road safety.

“A zero-tolerance approach to enforcing legislation that gets alcohol-impaired drivers and riders off the road before someone is injured or killed is one of the most effective of road safety interventions,” Gayle DiPietro, a GRSP official, said in a statement released Monday.

The organization is coordinating with the Vietnam National and Provincial Traffic Safety Committees and the World Health Organization to organize a road safety workshop in the northern provice of Ha Nam from October 18-20.

It is part of a global program to improve road safety for ten countries with the highest burdens of traffic injury.

Last month, the group held a training workshop at the People’s Police Academy in Hanoi, focusing on enhanced enforcement strategies, tactics and procedures for the effective prevention of drinking and driving, including the use of alcohol breathalyzers.

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• Road safety group calls for zero tolerance for drunk driving
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• Int’l seminar focuses on Asian ethnic groups
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• Workshop calls for longer-term plans to audit State entities

Viet Nam begins new road-safety campaign

HA NOI — Viet Nam has launched a new campaign to strengthen road traffic safety, particularly drink-driving prevention, according to a press release from the World Health Organisation on Tuesday.

The campaign aims to raise public awareness regarding legal blood-alcohol levels for drivers and provide breathalysers to traffic police.

The first phase of the new programme will be carried out in the two northern provinces of Ha Nam and Ninh Binh by 2011.

The localities will be provided with financial and technical support to reduce drink-driving.

The WHO representative in Viet Nam, Jean-Marc Olive, says "Drunkenness is a major factor in traffic accidents in Viet Nam."

"Local research indicates that over 34 per cent of death rate for traffic accidents were associated with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) exceeding the legal limit," he said.

"Enforcement is one of the most effective interventions to minimise traffic accidents, particularly with drunk drivers," Olive said.

Than Van Thanh, the National Traffic Safety Committee's Chief Secretariat said: "The traffic safety law issued in 2008 ruled the legal BAC level for motorcyclists reducing it 80 to 50mg/dl blood."

"Decree 34 that took effect in May, introduced increased fines for drivers violating blood alcohol concentration levels," Thanh said.

The campaign is a part of a global road safety programme that is running in ten countries with particularly high levels of traffic accidents.

The campaign has the support of international partners including the Global Road Safety Partnership and Johns Hopkins University. — VNS

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