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Restricting Private Vehicles: Starting from Scrap Motorbikes
Ngoc Thuy 20:06, 2017/06/30
At present, Hanoi has approx. 2.6 million motorbikes with over 15 years of use. These kinds of vehicles not only pose risks for people’s safety, but also one of serious air polluting factors.
Threats for transportation safety

 “If repaired and maintained frequently, a end-of-use motorbike can last for another 10 years; but afterwards it is difficult to say. If a mechanical failure  occurs on the road, it is a real danger to the driver”, said Nguyen Hong Viet, a veteran motorbike technician.

According to statistics from the Traffic Police Department, of a total of 5,2 million motorbike registered in Hanoi, about half has been in operation for 15-25 years. This is equivalent to around 2,6 million scrap motorbikes which imply safety  threat to drivers and people in the surroundings.

 
Scrap motorbikes pose risk to transportation safety
Scrap motorbikes pose risk to transportation safety
Truong Thi Ha from Cau Giay district was still terrified at her recent accident. Her motorbike bought in 1999 suddenly suffered a mechanical malfunction and stop in the middle of the road, so she was hit from behind by another motorbike. The accident resulted in her severe injury which she had to be treated in hospital for several months. The same as Thuy, millions of Hanoians are using scrap two-wheelers or transferring them without being aware of its potential threat to safety. Scrap two-wheelers are  seen as one of the major threats to the transportation safety and urban aesthetics of Hanoi. Tran Tuan Chinh, a Hanoian from Dong Da district  pointed  out: “If we want to phase out motorbikes, we have to start taking off scrap motorbikes to ensure transport safety and modernization”.
 
Source of pollution
 
A study on air quality conducted by the Green Innovation and Development Centre (GreenID) shows that the average Air Quality Index (AQI) of Hanoi is 123 (a poor level), and real-time outdoor air quality PM2.5 is more than 5 times the limit standard recommended by the  World Health Organization.
 
Nguyen Van Thanh  from Hai Ba Trung districtmentions one of the major issues right now is to set up list of technical criteria and emission standards to evaluate the impacts of obsolete motorbikes to Hanoi’s environment. “ I am sure that if we have the emission standards for reference, the number of motorbikes failing to meet environmental standards will be higher” he said.

The  Director of Hanoi Transport Department Vu Van Vien said on this issue  that if approved by competent authorities, Hanoi will  finish working out regulations and technical/environmental specifications for motorbikes by June 30 next year. At the same time, the City will set up facilities to test motorbike emissions..
 
Experts also mention that not only dust and smoke, but also the noise from motorbikes are the sources of environment pollution. In the process of developing technical and environmental standards for motorbikes, the responsible agencies need to include the noise criteria into the testing list.
 
PM 2.5 are tiny particles in the air that reduce visibility and cause the air to appear hazy when levels are elevated. AQI is an index for reporting daily air quality.  the AQI 123 level in Hanoi is causing respiratory disease for children and elderly people.

According to survey from Strategic Institute, out of 6 sources of air pollution in Hanoi, motorbikes and cars  emit 70% of hydrocarbons. And the majority of these hydrocarbons are coming from 2.6 million obsolete motorbikes which are daily on the traffic in Hanoi.
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