Ho Chi Minh City police are seeking a nod from the municipal government to their proposition to ban drinking houses from selling alcoholic drinks after 11 pm, following their failure to secure the approval for a similar proposal last month.

Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Tran Thanh Tra, a road and railway police office chief, proposed Tuesday during a meeting in the city that the night-time sale of alcoholic beverages like liquor and beer should be prohibited because of the high rate of deaths from drunk driving.

Up to 70 percent of road accidents are caused by drunk drivers, Tra said, complaining that the local government has yet to promulgate a proper regulation on the trading of alcoholic drinks. 

Road accidents related to drunk driving tend to happen more often during weekends and holidays, Colonel Ngo Minh Chau, vice director of the local police, said.

Chau admitted that his staff cannot check all the people who have drunk wine or beer before they drive.

A written warning against drunk driving should be hung at every drinking place in the city, he suggested.

Vice city chairman Nguyen Huu Tin, who rejected an April 13 proposal by Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Tra who suggested forbidding sales of alcoholic drinks after 10 pm, said that he will ask relevant agencies to reconsider the new suggestion.

Tin had earlier told Tra that banning late-night alcohol sales was not a good idea.

What the police should do now is deploy their forces to continually and proactively test the alcohol level in drivers’ blood in order to create a culture of fear among those who tend to ignore drunk driving rules.

According to a city Traffic Safety Committee report, 180 people died and another 1,000 were injured in 1,160 accidents in the first three months in the southern metropolis.