Proposal to remove traffic inspectors' authority to stop vehicles in motion

The Ministry of Justice has just announced the appraisal document of the Road Law project. This law was drafted by the Ministry of Transport, on the basis of separating a part from the 2008 Road Traffic Law.

In which, the Ministry of Transport proposed that traffic inspectors are not allowed to stop vehicles.

Specifically, Article 89 of the draft Road Law stipulates road inspection (or traffic inspection) as follows:

Road inspectorates include specialized road inspection agencies under the Ministry of Transport and specialized transport agencies of provincial People's Committees. The organization and operation of road inspectorates are in accordance with the provisions of law on inspection.

Road inspectors are responsible for inspecting, examining, and handling violations of the implementation of legal regulations on road infrastructure and road transport at transport business units, bus stations, parking lots, rest stops, vehicle load control systems, and transport support services.

Road inspectors are responsible for inspecting, examining, and handling violations of the implementation of legal provisions on training, testing, and granting of road motor vehicle driving licenses and technical safety and environmental protection inspections of motor vehicles according to the provisions of the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety.

Compared to the current Article 86, Clause 2 of the 2008 Road Traffic Law, there is no longer a provision that traffic inspectors are allowed to stop vehicles.

Specifically, the current regulations are as follows: “... in urgent cases, to promptly prevent possible consequences for road works, it is allowed to stop vehicles and request the vehicle driver to take measures to protect the works according to the provisions of law and must be responsible for that decision”.

At the same time, in Article 15 of Circular 02/2014/TT-BGTVT, inspectors and inspection officers are allowed to stop road vehicles in the following cases:

Compelling to stop the violation according to the provisions of Article 55 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations 2012 (amended 2020).

When detecting vehicles with signs as prescribed in Point a, Clause 2, Article 86 of the 2008 Law on Road Traffic, specifically as follows: Exceeding the permitted load of bridges and roads; Exceeding the permitted size limit of bridges and roads; Tracked vehicles circulating directly on the road without implementing road protection measures as prescribed; Illegally dumping soil, construction materials, and other waste onto roads or into road safety corridors.

Thus, this proposal of the Ministry of Transport has made a major change in the authority of the Traffic Inspectorate compared to current regulations.

From now on, traffic inspectors will only inspect, check, and handle static violations, specifically regarding road infrastructure and road transport at transport business units, bus stations, parking lots, rest stops, vehicle load control systems, and transport support services.

In the fields of training, testing, and granting driving licenses, the inspection, examination, and handling authority of traffic inspectors is basically maintained.

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