Vietnam Curbs Traffic to Improve Safety, Air Quality

Lien Hoang, VOA News
3 February 2014 (12:46PM)

HO CHI MINH CITY — Vietnam is attempting to combat the traffic-related problems of crashes and smog.

Traffic accidents are a leading killer here, especially among teenagers.

Roughly 14,000 Vietnamese die each year after a crash, putting this nation of 90 million among the top 10 countries to suffer road-related deaths, according to Bloomberg Philanthropies.

That figure could come down as Vietnam experiments with ways to get more vehicles off the road and more pollutants out of the air.

The Ministry of Transport has introduced a raft of proposals, from restricting car access to downtown areas, to investing in more sidewalks and electric vehicles, to changing some school and work hours.

That last option, which is meant to reduce traffic during peak hours, has already rolled out in parts of Hanoi, but would expand to Ho Chi Minh City. Each city has more than seven million residents.

Trinh Van Chinh, a consultant for the transport ministry, said the change in hours is inconvenient but necessary.

“We have to help people understand better that this problem is really urgent.” Chinh said in an interview at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport, where he also teaches.

Planners hope that by staggering business and school hours, they could cut traffic accidents by as much as 10 percent and cut traffic jams by 30 percent.

Some have criticized and even poked fun at the policy.

Unclogging congestion

But Akira Hosomi, who is helping Vietnam build a metro system through the Japan International Consultants for Transportation, said the policy can succeed because he has seen similar ideas work elsewhere. He said that Singapore charges metro-goers less during non-peak hours in order to control congestion.

Besides bringing the country’s first subway system online in the next few years, the transport ministry wants to get more Vietnamese to use city buses.

In its latest proposals, it suggesting lower fares and free parking at key transit points where commuters could hop onto buses. Signs have gone up around Ho Chi Minh City, urging residents to take the bus.

This would require weaning drivers off the motorbike.

In Vietnam, unlike more industrialized parts of Asia, the motorbike still rules the road. That means drivers here are more exposed to pollution, Hosomi said, not to mention collisions.

“I think the air pollution in Vietnam, specifically Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, is getting more serious day by day,” he said.

Hosomi added that the wide availability of cheap fuel contributes to smog. So do four-wheel cars, which is why the government aims to limit them in city centers and charge drivers a fee to go downtown. Officials also want to promote electric vehicles.

Car importers balk

But Horst Herdtle said that shouldn’t mean discouraging traditional cars. Herdtle is CEO of Euro Auto, which imports BMW cars to Vietnam.

He said his cars meet such tough European emission standards before coming to Vietnam that “probably a water buffalo emits more harmful substances than a passenger car.”

The government will have an even tougher time controlling vehicles after 2018, when it’ll have to forgo import duties for vehicles from within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The change is part of further regional integration, including an Asean Economic Community that kicks off in 2015. Vietnam halved the auto import taxes this year which used to mean a buyer paid as much as twice the sticker price of a car.

At the same time, Vietnam has succeeded in some of its mass-media traffic campaigns. A push for drivers to wear helmets has resulted in a 90-percent compliance rate, according to the World Health Organization.

Billboards remind drivers that “Safety comes first” or that this is the “Year of Traffic Safety.”

But environmentalist Phan Ha Vy said there aren’t enough campaigns that look beyond safety to include the environment.

“There’s so much pollution because people aren’t conscious about the environment,” Vy said.

VY lives in Ho Chi Minh City but grew up in Vung Tau, a beach town three hours southeast. She said the streets back home were far cleaner, less crowded; she was more likely to walk outside. Now she rides a motorbike.

“Even if I go for a walk here, there’s too much dust,” she said. “So I really don’t want to go out, it’s hard to tolerate.”

Most Vietnamese deal with the pollution by donning masks.

Many go for walks and exercise outside at the crack of dawn when there are fewer vehicles and the smog hasn’t set in.