The Viet Nam Automobile Transportation
Association has proposed a one-year extension to the deadline for black box data
recorders to be installed in coaches and containers.

Photo: VNS

Under
Government Decree 91, coaches, containers and tour buses must carry the
recorders from the beginning of July this year.

The black box records the vehicle’s speed, when its doors open
and its route. The technical data it provides helps police understand the causes
of traffic accidents with information about speeds
and braking.

“A set
of standards for the boxes themselves has yet to be approved so transport
enterprises are worried they will not be able to install the boxes on time,”
said Nguyen Manh Hung, chairman of the association.

The
association had asked the Ministry of Transport to extend the installation
deadline for a year so that transport enterprises would have more time to
prepare and a suitable set of standards could be drawn up and agreed, he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Transport Le Manh Hung said the ministry would not
extend the deadline in a move to encourage domestic black box producers to
compete with each other.

However
to help transport enterprises, the ministry would not penalise those that failed
to install the equipment in time for a further six months or one year.

The
country had about 400,000 coaches and containers, but only 10 per cent of them
were equipped with a black box, according to statistics from the Viet Nam
Automobile Transportation Association.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News