Ring Road 3 is an important road traffic route, passing through many districts of Hanoi city, of which the elevated Ring Road 3 section from Thang Long Bridge to Thanh Tri Bridge is about 30km long.
As this section connects to a number of highways and radial roads of the capital, the daily traffic volume here is very large.
This route also has oversized and overweight vehicles, leading to frequent traffic jams and accidents during rush hour, especially on holidays and Tet.
Causes of traffic jams
Ring Road 3 is designed to accommodate 15,000 vehicles per day and night. However, at the end of 2023, when measuring the number of vehicles passing through this route, Hanoi city authorities recorded up to 167,000 vehicles passing through here per day and night, many times higher than the original design.
Traffic Police Team No. 14, Traffic Police Department, Hanoi City Police is assigned to ensure traffic safety on Ring Road 3 from the front of the City People's Court area to Thanh Tri Bridge, about 17km long.
According to Major Pham Duc Hoang, Captain of Traffic Police Team No. 14, the biggest difficulty in ensuring traffic safety on the route is the large volume of vehicles; the route has many entrances and exits, and there are often heavy vehicles traveling.
Especially during holidays and Tet, the number of vehicles increases so much that the infrastructure cannot cope. Due to the large number of vehicles, if there is a breakdown, engine failure or traffic collision, the entire road will be congested for hours.
Before every holiday or Tet, the newspapers and radio stations report that the Ring Road 3 is congested for hours. However, many vehicle owners have no choice but to travel on this route.
Due to congestion, many vehicle owners could not stand the “queue” on the road and drove onto the priority road, leading to traffic violations. Overloaded infrastructure is the root cause of congestion and traffic accidents on the elevated section of Ring Road 3.
Major Pham Duc Hoang shared that before 2022, on average, 6 traffic accidents occurred on this route every day. Meanwhile, the sign system is not synchronized, especially the section from Phap Van bridge to Thanh Tri bridge is not guaranteed.
Even arranging a tow truck to free a stalled vehicle or a traffic accident on Thanh Tri bridge is difficult because the tow truck has no way to get onto the bridge.
Similarly, the section of Ring Road 3 from Big C to near the foot of Thang Long Bridge, about 4km long, under the management of Traffic Police Team No. 6, Traffic Police Department, Hanoi Police, often has a high traffic density.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Pham Van Chien - Team Leader, officers and soldiers of the Team are always on duty to guide traffic, propagate and handle violations of traffic safety order. However, the situation of traffic safety order violations is only limited and overcome when the functional forces are present.
In the absence of traffic police, many vehicle owners violate the law. One of the reasons cited is that some people's awareness of traffic safety compliance is still low.
“When the traffic police strictly handle the act of entering the emergency stopping and parking lane, cars do not dare to enter, but motorbikes from below see that the road is wide and crowded, so they go up to the elevated road,” added Lieutenant Colonel Pham Van Chien.
Many solutions have been implemented but they are not sustainable.
In fact, Hanoi City Police and the Ministry of Public Security pay much attention to Ring Road 3 with the hope of reducing traffic congestion and traffic accidents on the route.
Every day, Traffic Police Team No. 6 and No. 14 regularly patrol and control; organize propaganda, divide traffic lanes, and resolve congestion.
With the characteristics of an important beltway connecting the region, from September 20, 2022, the Traffic Police Department, Ministry of Public Security has developed a plan, coordinated with Hanoi City Police to pilot, dispatch officers and soldiers, assign shifts, use special motorbikes, patrol and control traffic, and provide guidance on resolving traffic jams and accidents.
Traffic police officers use handheld cameras to record and fine violators. During the period of maintaining the above measures, the situation of traffic safety violations on the route decreased. Traffic congestion and traffic accidents improved.
However, due to limited resources, patrolling and recording to impose fines are sometimes lax.
According to some traffic police officers on duty on Ring Road 3, the entire long, key route of the capital has only been installed with a few dozen cameras to record fines. This is the “loophole” for traffic participants to circumvent the law and violate the law.
Meanwhile, the number of vehicles is large, it is estimated that every second there are about two vehicles on the road, it is difficult for the authorities to control all of them, so the application of technology to monitor and punish violations of traffic safety and order on the route is extremely necessary.
Regarding this content, the representative of Traffic Police Team No. 4 proposed to install more cameras on the road; complete the sign system as a basis for fines. When the Traffic Police are on duty on the road, they only need to control alcohol and drug concentrations, so that they can do their job well.
Early application of technology in handling violations
To clarify the above content, Major General Nguyen Thanh Tung, Deputy Director of Hanoi City Police, said that currently, the elevated Ring Road 3 has 39 traffic cameras installed from Thanh Tri Bridge to Phap Van-National Highway 1A intersection and from Nguyen Trai-Khuat Duy Tien intersection to Mai Dich overpass.
This camera system connects the Traffic Light Control Center and the City Police Command Center to monitor traffic order and safety, promptly detect incidents and cases affecting traffic on the route to notify the authorities to resolve and regulate traffic.
According to Major General Nguyen Thanh Tung, the city police have handled many violations but the handling has not been thorough, and there are still violations at different times. Therefore, in order to handle them thoroughly, the measure of installing cameras to issue fines on this route is very necessary.
Regarding the installation of cameras on Ring Road 3 as well as at important national security projects, symbolic and symbolic projects, historical relics, scenic spots, traffic routes, public and entertainment places; places serving people's lives, Mr. Ha Minh Hai, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee, said that the city conducted a survey, analysis, and comprehensive assessment of the current status of the surveillance camera system serving the management, supervision, and traffic operation work... in the area.
The purpose is to unify the technical aspect, ensure quality, interconnect to improve investment efficiency, effectively serve the management work, and develop the capital's socio-economy; thereby serving as a basis for building a master plan on managing the city's centralized surveillance camera system, ensuring synchronization, efficiency, avoiding duplication and waste.
Hanoi assigned the City Police to preside over and coordinate with the Office of the City People's Committee, the Department of Information and Communications, the Department of Transport, and relevant units to urge, guide, inspect, and evaluate the implementation results of the units; promptly advise the City People's Committee to remove difficulties and obstacles in the implementation process; to be completed before April 15, 2024.
The installation of additional cameras by Hanoi is necessary, in line with the general trend of countries in the region and the world. According to some citizens and experts, in addition to applying technology in handling traffic safety violations on Ring Road 3 and other routes, it is necessary to raise awareness of traffic participants to comply with the law so that they voluntarily do not violate the law, even when there is no law enforcement.
NH (according to VietnamPlus)Source
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