A traffic police officer guides drivers through a traffic jam during Hanoi’s rush hour.

The Ministry of Transport wants to make traffic fines in the country’s two largest cities higher than the rest of the country, but the Ministry of Justice said the proposal would violate the constitution.

A newly proposed Ministry of Transport decree would allow Hanoi and HCMC to impose the fines up to double those levied elsewhere.

The city governments would stipulate the fines with the approval of their legislatures, according to the decree.

But the Ministry of Justice said in a note sent to the Government Office and the Ministry of Transport last week that the proposal would violate the constitution, which states that every citizen is equal under the law.

Such equality required laws to be applied the same nationwide, said the Ministry of Justice in the note.

The ministry also said that many residents traveling through Hanoi and HCMC were low-income earners, some living below the poverty line.

Vietnam’s official poverty line for the 2006-2010 period is an average monthly income of less than VND200,000 (US$11.10) per person in rural areas and below VND260,000 ($14.40) per person in urban areas.

Other loopholes

The Ministry of Justice also objected to a stipulation in the decree that would allow traffic police to install cameras to catch traffic violators by capturing vehicles’ license plates.

The ministry said such cameras were impractical because too many vehicles have transferred ownership too many times without proper registration and re-registration.

The ministry also suggested some sections of the draft be discussed further, including the section about fines for vehicles that cause pollution.

Nguyen Van Thuan, head of the Traffic Safety Department at the Ministry of Transport, told Thanh Nien on Monday that the Ministry of Justice had made many good points and that his ministry was considering making changes to the draft.

The proposal for higher traffic fines in Hanoi and HCMC will be labeled as “under debate” when the draft is submitted to the government this month, Thuan said.

Reported by Thai Son