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Vietnam's proposal to curb of drunk driving arouses debate

Xinhua, March 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

The proposal to seize vehicles if drivers are found drunken has triggered debates across Vietnam over the recent days.

The proposal, submitted by the National Traffic Safety Committee to the Vietnamese government on sanctions for administrative violations, suggests that if a driver is found drunken, his driving license should be revoked for two years and his vehicle be confiscated.

In Vietnam, a drunk driver refers to one whose alcohol concentration is tested to surpass 80 mg per 100 ml in blood or 0. 4 mg per liter in breath.

Violators have to re-sit the exam on the road traffic law before being granted driving licenses again.

If the proposal is approved, the sanction will be applied as of March 15.

The proposal is made in the context that during the nine-day lunar New Year holiday in Vietnam, nearly 320 people lost their lives in traffic accidents, 13.9 percent higher than the previous year, said the committee.

Drunk driving is among reasons that caused high rate of traffic accidents and fatalities during the holiday.

Currently, drunk drivers face fines of 10-15 million Vietnamese dong (468-702 U.S. dollars) for automobiles and 2-3 million Vietnamese dong (94-140 U.S. dollars) for motorbikes. Vehicles of drunk drivers can only be impounded for a maximum of 30 days.

To Khuat Viet Hung, vice chairman of the committee, the current

fine cannot give strong deterrence to violators.

"The deprivation of vehicles and driving licenses is a warning to those who usually drive after drinking," Hung told the VNExpress online newspaper on Wednesday.

However, public response to the proposal varied. A VNExpress opinion poll showed that up to Wednesday, some 46 percent of the 7, 813 readers surveyed agreed to the proposal while the rest 54 percent said "no."

While some of those who support the proposal even urged expansion of the scope of sanction to cover intentional acts such as passenger overloading, racing and speeding, some who are against it called for respect to personal property.

"Ho Trung Nghia," a reader, argued "Vehicle is the property of citizen. I think fines are enough."

Meanwhile, some people worry that there could be some difficulties when applying the vehicle confiscation rule since many people in the country are not the owners of the vehicles they are driving. Endi