Traffic accidents and related deaths are on the decline in Vietnam, but traffic police are as corrupt as ever, according to official reports released at a conference in Hanoi Friday.

The bureau said railway accidents had been cut nearly in half while waterway mishaps had dropped 23 percent.

Traffic police units have issued tickets in nearly five million traffic violations and collected VND1.18 billion (US$66,000) in fines, said the bureau’s reports, which also pointed out that everyday corruption was still an issue for most traffic police departments.

Cao Xuan Hong, deputy head of the bureau, said many traffic police officers had literally run away from inspectors during surprise on-the-job checks. Hong said excessive amounts of cash were usually found in the traffic officers’ motorbikes.

He said many such cases had been caught on tape by inspectors and the records would be sent to the directors of city and provincial police departments employing the violating officers.

Source: Thanh Nien