LookAtVietnam – Public awareness of the importance of traffic safety must be raised to reduce the number of road accidents, HCM City officials emphasised.

In 2008, 70 per cent of drivers who received traffic citations were between the ages of 20 and 30, according to the HCM City Social Research Institute.

More high school students are involved in accidents than in previous years.

The most common violations include neglecting traffic light while riding motorbikes, riding in the wrong lane, driving or riding without a helmet, going over the permitted speed and driving without a license.

Speaking at a seminar on traffic safety yesterday in HCM City, Pham Duc Trong of HCM City Social Sciences and Humanities University said the percentage of students unaware of traffic regulations was growing.

Most students do not know the permitted speed on roads with a median strip and do not know how to read traffic signs.

Trong said most students follow what other people do and only obey the most common regulations.

Speaking at the seminar, Diep Van Son, an expert with the United Nations Development Programme, said that schools and families must take part in raising traffic safety awareness.

Trong said the Ministry of Education and Training should change the content of civic education subjects, including placing more focus on traffic safety.

The schools should include more outdoor activities to improve awareness of traffic laws, and promote the ethical importance of obeying traffic safety rules, he added.

He advised parents not to buy motorbikes or allow their children to ride motorbikes to schools if they are under the state-regulated driving age.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News