VGP – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has tasked inferior levels to promptly amend regulations towards increasing administrative penalties for traffic offences. 

Drunken drivers may face criminal charges

The Government chief made the request at a national video-conference on Monday to review traffic safety in the first half of 2019.

Phuc suggested that drunk drivers whose alcohol content exceeds 80mg for every 100ml of blood, need be pressed with criminal charges instead of administrative fines.

The driving licenses of drug and alcohol addicts must be immediately revoked forever, Phuc said.

Last June, the National Assembly of Viet Nam approved the Law on Prevention of Alcohol’s Harmful Effects, which shows zero tolerance for alcohol when driving.

Any amount of alcohol found in a driver will result in revocation of his/her driving license.

According to the National Committee for Traffic Safety, 239 drivers were tested positive for drug use and more than 78,000 cases violated alcohol regulations in the first half of 2019.

There were 8,300 traffic accidents in the reviewed period, killing 3,810 and injuring more than 6,300, said the Committee.

Viet Nam spends on average US$3.4 billion on alcohol each year, or 3% of the government’s budget revenue, official data shows./.