In the latest report from the Traffic Safety Committee in HCM City, until this June, the metropolis has had 5.7 million vehicles, with 508,000 cars and 5.2 motorbikes. 

HCM City traffic causes administrative problems

In HCM City private vehicles have surpassed all forms of public transportation for ten years, and the trend is continuing. The HCM City Transport Department would like to reduce the number of private vehicles.

Since 2007, municipal authorities there have come up with a number of measures aimed at bettering the situation but they have proven ineffective.

The HCM City Transport Department’s main focus this year has been to make feasibility studies on the effect of adjusting transport fees on personal vehicles entering the city during rush hour in order to reduce traffic. Currently the results of the study are being analysed, and new plans are expected to result.

During  the first half of the year, aside from efforts to educate the public on traffic safety laws, the administration has also added stricter penalties on violations, collecting a total of about VND151 billion (USD7,217,973).

In addition, the city has mobilised volunteers, including young people, precinct police and night watchmen to enforce traffic regulations.

The same report, however, added that, up until May 25, there were only two traffic jams which lasted more than a half hour in the city. This would represet a 91% reduction of traffic jams from the same period of the year before. Another report, from the Traffic Safety Committee of HCM City, concluded that the reduction in percentage was a mere 80%.

An official of the committee also said that illegal racing has not been a problem recently, although during holidays there have been large groups of motorbike racers on the streets of HCM City.

Traffic police have manned positions on a nightly basis with maximum capacity to deal with this problem, he said, adding that the number of violators caught has gone up dramatically, with about 8,000 tickets being handed out and 4,000 motorbikes having been impounded.

Source: Dtinews