Hanoi People's Committee on January 5 held a ceremony to launch the Year of Traffic Safety 2021 and kicked off a campaign on ensuring traffic order and safety during the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) at Ly Thai To Monument (Dinh Tien Hoang street, Hoan Kiem district).

Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh delivered speech at the launching ceremony of the Traffic Safety Year 2021 campaign. Photo: Kinh te & Do thi

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh requested the National Traffic Safety Committee, ministries, branches and localities to take drastic measures to ensure traffic safety in the Traffic Safety Year 2021 which is themed "Improving the efficiency of law enforcement in ensuring traffic order and safety".

Right from the first days of 2021, all levels from the central to local authorities need to well implement nine groups of key tasks on traffic safety stated in the approved plan; strive to lower the number of traffic accidents and the number of traffic-related deaths and injuries by 5-10% compared to 2020. He asked to reduce traffic jams in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and other big cities nationwide.

Hanoi strives to lower the number of traffic accidents and the number of traffic-related deaths and injuries for the Traffic Safety Year 2021. Photo: Kinh te & Do thi

The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that relevant departments should strictly handle violations of traffic order and safety without any exception. He suggested media outlets to support the traffic police, explaining to the citizens about police duties which are preventing traffic accidents which might lead to injury or death.

Relevant units have to prepare an effective response plan to prevent COVID-19 infection from occuring at traffic hubs and on public transport vehicles. Meanwhile, leaders of the agency or unit would be held accountable if COVID-19 infection occurs in their areas of jurisdiction.

According to statistics of the Ministry of Public Security, the number of traffic accidents decreased by 42.71%, the number of deaths fell by 19.01% and the injuries by 53.91% in the period from 2016 to 2020.

Especially the year 2020 saw the biggest reduction in traffic accidents in the past 10 years with nearly 18%. Last year, the number of injury dropped by nearly 20% and the number of deaths fell by over 12%; and for the first time, the number of traffic-related deaths decreased to less than 7,000 people per year.