Proposed fines of up to VND120 million

After Decree No.168/2021/ND-CP took effect, traffic situations have improved significantly. The application of automatic monitoring and violation handling technology helps improve management efficiency, and reduce violations, such as speeding and running red lights. Stricter penalties also create a deterrent effect, and also reduces traffic congestion and accidents.

Hanoi, the capital with over 8 million people, is always one of the cities with the most complex traffic situations in the country. Although road infrastructure has been improved through major projects, traffic congestions still occur frequently, especially during peak hours.

Accordingly, Hanoi is facing many challenges in maintaining traffic safety and reducing violations. To cope with this situation, the Hanoi People’s Committee has just proposed to increase the fine for traffic violations by 1.5 - 2 times compared to the regulations in Decree No.168/2024/ND-CP, with some fines may be up to 120 million VND. This is one of the strong measures to change people’s traffic habits, reduce accidents and improve traffic congestion.

Hanoi proposes to increase the fines by 1.5 to 2 times compared to Decree No.168/2024/ND-CP. Photo: N.H.

Many opinions say that despite significant progress in the current handling of traffic violations, the fines under Decree 168 are still not strong enough to create a clear change in the behavior of road users. Behaviors such as running red lights, speeding, not wearing helmets, or illegal parking still occur every day and become habits that are difficult to change.

Moreover, failures to handle violations in a timely manner also make people take the traffic law less seriously. Given the above situation, Hanoi’s proposal to increase fines is a drastic solution to change people’s habits and cut traffic accidents.

What do experts say?

Dr. Phan Le Binh - Traffic expert, Chief Representative of OCG Japan Consulting Office, commented that since the implementation of Decree No.168/2024/ND-CP, the level of traffic order has been restored to the state that it “should have been” in a very short time.

Specifically, the traffic situation has improved significantly. People’s awareness of law enforcement on traffic order and safety, including in Hanoi, has been raised, voluntarily even when there are no traffic police forces.

Accordingly, Dr. Phan Le Binh said that the proposal to increase the fine level needs a convincing assessment basis and clear goals for the proposal; specially, it needs to take into account the people’s consensus. Simply increasing the fines will not be enough to completely solve the traffic problem.

Accordingly, to raise awareness of traffic users, it is necessary to strengthen dissemination and education on traffic laws strongly and continuously, especially for young people and students.

Although increasing traffic fines is an important solution to maintain order and safety, to achieve long-term effectiveness, it is necessary to ensure fairness and transparency in the implementation of measures to handle violations. If the fines are high but not implemented fairly, or there is discrimination in the handling, efforts to build a safe and civilized traffic environment can only be effective in a short term and will not be sustainable.