Under the Ministry of Transport’s draft decree, all coaches and containers lorries operating on routes 500km or longer would have had to be fitted with the device by July 1, next year.

Coaches and buses operating routes over 300km but under 500km would have to install the devices by January 2011.

Already installed

Tran Ngoc Thanh, deputy director of the Ministry of Transport’s Transportation Department, said that the black boxes could help enterprise directors manage their drivers better.

He said several transport firms, such as Hoang Long, Tan Dat and Mai Linh, have already installed the device.

Nguyen Thai Son, director of the Tan Dat Transport, said black boxes had been installed in all long-haul buses since last October.

“Drivers have conformed to the travelling schedule and the regulated parking spots well since we had the device. And the number of accidents has decreased sharply,” Son said. However, a number of transport firms said they did not know about the draft decree and the black boxes.

“l am not sure how much black boxes can help us,” said Hoang Thi Hanh, director of the Huong Thanh Transport which runs on a route between Ha Noi and Thai Nguyen. But Hanh said she would obey the decree when it became law.

Meanwhile, Tran Huu Thuy, director of a small transport firm, Song Toan Co Ltd, said prices to install black box were about US$300-500, which were “rather high”.

“We may have to increase our transport fees to pay for their installation, and it will affect our passengers, but we have no other way,” Thuy said.

The draft decree was to have been implemented in July this year, but it was postponed to give transport firms time to prepare for installation, Thanh said.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News