Vietnam

Situation

Vietnam

Like many middle-income countries, Vietnam bears a disproportionately high burden of road traffic deaths, with approximately 26* people killed in road crashes every day. Motorised 2 and 3-wheelers make up over 90%* of the country’s registered vehicles. In response, national helmet wearing laws have been established, of which enforcement is high – 96%* of drivers and 83%* of passengers are recorded as wearing helmets. Helmet standards are also mandated in Vietnam.

(*WHO 2015)

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GRSP activities

Activities

Advocacy:

Supporting advocacy for implementation of helmet quality standards and motorcycle helmet wearing enforcement.

Education – staff & volunteers:

Vietnam Red Cross is a party to the IFRC, GRSP and Grab initiative to train Grab Drivers on safer road use. GRSP is working with VRC to schedule Road Safety Essentials training for their first aid trainers.

Capacity building:

GRSP will coordinate with JHU and Hanoi School of Public Health (HSPH) to work with HCMC Traffic Police to further strength the enforcement data collection. Activities to realize this work (i.e. meetings, training and coaching) are being done in Feb and early Mar.

Scaling up drink driving enforcement in 15 provinces; strengthening road policing in Ho Chi Minh City.

Grantees:

GRSP also supports grantee Viet Nam Standards and Consumer Organization (VINASTAS) working with the government to improve the key regulatory documents governing helmet quality management with a view to implement the revised regulations in HCMC.

Education – community based:

GRSP is working with Total VN to integrate aspects of the Total Road Safety Cube with the simple messaging of GRSP’s Talk Road Safety workshop to provide Total VN CSR teams with a light-touch road safety programme which will help them begin road safety work with local schools with a view to encouraging deeper road safety engagement in the local 2018 budget.

Road policing:

GRSP international road policing will work with GRSP in VN and HCMC Traffic Police to review the current enforcement procedures on speeding and seat-belt. Visits to the city will be arranged when needed. Based on the findings from the review, the training programme on these risk factors will be developed.

GRSP will support the delivery of three drink driving enforcement training in June and July.

GRSP works in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) with the HCMC Traffic Police P67 together with other agencies to build capacity of police officers to strengthen enforcement on three main risk factors (i.e. drink driving, helmet wearing, seatbelt).

In HCMC, GRSP will continue to focus on supporting the police in strengthening drink driving enforcement in 2017, and start its support on two new risk factors: speeding and seat-belt.

Road police training programme in 15 selected sites: Hai Phong, Hai Duong, Thai Nguyen, Lang Son, Phu Tho, Lao Cai, Son La, Hoa Binh, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen, Binh Dinh. These provinces, cities are located along main national highways (1A, 2, 3, 5, 6) – a high crash risk highways of the countries. There is also intensive training for road police in Ho Chi Minh City.

Programmes

Road Safety Grants Programme

The grants programme supports projects to develop and deliver high-impact, evidence-based interventions designed to strengthen road safety policies and their implementation.

Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS)

The programme works with countries at the national level to strengthen road safety legislation, and with cities at the city level to implement proven road safety interventions.

Global Road Safety Initiative (GRSI)

The Global Road Safety Initiative (GRSI) was one of the world’s largest joint commitments of private sector resources toward road safety in low- and middle-income countries. The Initiative is now closed, however implementations of programmes developed through the initiative such as Safe to School – Safe to Home in Vietnam and China are still in operation under local authorities and the methodology has been embedded into curriculum.

Road user groups

Children:

With around 186 300 children under 18 years die from road traffic crashes annually, it is unacceptable that some countries still do not have legislation regarding obligatory usage and set safety standards for child restraints.

Powered 2 and 3 wheelers:

Motorcyclists are just 1% of total road traffic, but account for 19% of all road user deaths. This is a clear sign that there is a huge problem and that correct interventions would greatly reduce the road traffic fatalities. GRSP is heavily involved in advocating better helmet wearing legislations and is helping enforcement agencies be more effective with this road use group.