With the implementation of many synchronous solutions from functional forces, it is expected that the traffic situation in Ho Chi Minh City will improve.
As Lunar New Year approaches, the flow of people and vehicles is densely packed on all the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, causing traffic congestion, regardless of peak or off-peak hours. Faced with this situation, the city authorities have urgently stepped in to find solutions.
Dissecting the cause
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Loi, Deputy Head of the Traffic Safety Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, said that traffic in the days before Tet continued to have remarkable changes in traffic awareness. Violations such as driving on the sidewalk, running red lights, etc. have decreased significantly. The number of traffic accidents has also decreased significantly compared to the same period. However, congestion on major arterial roads occurs frequently, at almost all times of the day.
Meanwhile, the city's traffic infrastructure is overloaded compared to the current traffic volume. On the other hand, there are times when there are technical errors in traffic light control and coordination between the authorities is not timely. Therefore, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has directed units to immediately apply measures to remove the problem when necessary, creating conditions for people to comply with traffic regulations while still being convenient.
People strictly obey traffic laws. Photo: NGOC QUY
Lieutenant Colonel Le Manh Ha, Deputy Head of the General Staff Department - Ho Chi Minh City Police, said that the city has had many solutions such as expanding roads, building new ones, replacing temporary bridges, building metro lines, building overpasses, underpasses... and organizing traffic more reasonably to ensure traffic safety and limit traffic congestion.
According to the reporter of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, after more than 17 days since Decree 168/2024 took effect, the traffic situation in Ho Chi Minh City has had significant changes. On many roads, people strictly follow traffic safety regulations, such as stopping at the right signal line, not climbing on the sidewalk, etc.
Recently, Decree 168/2024 of the Government regulating administrative sanctions for violations of order and traffic safety in the field of road traffic; deduction of points, restoration of driving license points, took effect from January 1, 2025. At the same time, near the Lunar New Year, traffic density increased due to increased travel demand of people, the demand for transporting goods and passengers also increased, causing local congestion on some routes. Through traffic coordination, some shortcomings in traffic management were discovered if motorbikes and scooters were not allowed to turn right (or go straight) when the light was red at some intersections.
Implement multiple solutions simultaneously
Mr. Do Ngoc Hai, Head of the Department of Construction Maintenance and Operation Management - Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport, said that to reduce congestion, the Department of Transport has coordinated with the Traffic Police Department of the City Police to review each intersection, location, and area to install right turn lights for two-wheeled vehicles, especially in areas with long lines of vehicles waiting, areas with little impact on pedestrians.
"We will install the lights at the agreed location, survey and agree on the installation at the same time," said Mr. Hai. By the end of January 15, Ho Chi Minh City had installed 301 lights at 126 intersections; it is expected that by January 19, 500 lights will be installed for phase 1. At the same time, the locations for installing countdown lights will also be reviewed to adjust to the actual situation.
In the coming time, Ho Chi Minh City Police will continue to coordinate with functional units to review, install, repair, and supplement traffic lights to facilitate two-wheeled vehicles to turn right at red lights. Regarding the situation of vehicles stopping at red lights blocking the way for motorbikes to turn right, Ho Chi Minh City Police will continue to coordinate and propose the Department of Transport to study and supplement lane separation and paint instructions to overcome the above situation.
On January 17, District 3 launched the implementation of the Traffic Safety Year 2025 and the peak period to ensure traffic safety and order during the Lunar New Year and Spring Festival 2025. Immediately after the launching ceremony, District 3 forces marched to visually and vividly propagate to the people to participate in raising awareness of voluntarily complying with the law and implementing safety rules when participating in traffic.
Handling more than 1,800 cases of illegal buses and stations
Lieutenant Colonel Le Manh Ha said that to prevent illegal buses and bus stations, Ho Chi Minh City Police have directed the traffic police force to strengthen inspection and handle violations in passenger transport activities in the area. Traffic police also launched a peak period of general inspection, control and handling of violations from November 25, 2024 to February 14, 2025. From November 25, 2024 to now, the traffic police force has handled more than 1,850 violations, revoked 122 driving licenses, and fined over 1.5 billion VND.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Ha, through feedback from the press, people and inspection and review work, the Traffic Police Department - Ho Chi Minh City Police and the Department of Transport have identified locations with signs of stopping and parking to pick up and drop off passengers in violation of regulations in the area. Currently, Ho Chi Minh City Police have been coordinating with relevant agencies to inspect documents related to passenger transport business activities at these locations; install and extract surveillance cameras, look up and monitor journeys, secretly record and sign commitments with vehicle owners and drivers when participating in passenger transport services... Currently, the database on vehicles and vehicle routes for transport business is gradually being completed and connected and shared with traffic police forces at all levels. When the database is completed, the traffic police force will not only inspect and impose penalties directly on the road, but violations will be detected through extracting vehicle route databases as a basis for handling violations.
Untangling the bottlenecks in Tan Son Nhat airport area
Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Binh, Deputy Head of the Traffic Police Department - Ho Chi Minh City Police, said that Tan Son Nhat Airport has prepared a group to prevent traffic congestion according to the plan of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee. This includes the Department of Transport, Ho Chi Minh City Police, the Traffic Police Department and related units, including the force at Tan Son Nhat Airport.
This group will continuously provide images and traffic incidents for the forces to coordinate and resolve.
In particular, in the airport area there is a "bag" to contain vehicles. When the roads in the area show signs of congestion, the authorities will gather the vehicles into that "bag". Next, they will regulate and resolve the congestion in the Lang Cha Ca roundabout area.
A. Vu
Source: https://nld.com.vn/bat-benh-giao-thong-tp-hcm-196250117213619408.htm
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