Transport Minister Dinh La Thang yesterday said that sleeper buses must not be allowed to run on sloping and tricky routes in mountainous areas.- Photo citinews HA NOI (VNS) – Transport Minister Dinh La Thang yesterday said that sleeper buses must not be allowed to run on sloping and tricky routes in mountainous areas. He stressed the need for a new decree on this issue at a meeting held in Ha Noi yesterday to discuss the proposals for the development of transport projects to be submitted to the Government. This is in response to concerns expressed over the recent accident in which a sleeper bus plunged into a ravine in Bat Xat District in Lao Cai Province on Monday, killing 12 people. Thang urged the concerned authorities to draw lessons from the tragic accident to ensure stricter checking of violations of transport rules to prevent the occurrence of similar accidents. He requested the Directorate of Roads of Viet Nam to check all the railings along the section of National Highway 4D that runs through Lao Cai’s Sa Pa Town, adding that the iron railings looked fragile and too low. “It looked like the railings were constructed without consideration of people’s safety,” Thang said. Tran Ky Hinh, head of the Viet Nam Register, said that during the past two years, the country saw 22 traffic accidents that involved sleeper buses, of which 19 occurred between 9pm and 7am. He added that 30 per cent of these accidents occurred on sloping roads in mountainous areas, while the rest occurred on the National Highway 1A in the section that runs through central Viet Nam. Minister Thang also requested the relevant authorities to revise the regulations related to sleeper buses, such as including a regulation requiring the manufacturers to equip the buses with seat belts and requiring passengers to fasten the seat belts, or further specifications about the night rescue work. – VNS
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 11:53:03 +0000