The number of traffic accidents and the resulting deaths and injuries in Vietnam so far this year decreased from the same period last year, the National Traffic Safety Committee reported on Wednesday.

>> Ho Chi Minh City holds memorial service for traffic victims

From the beginning of the year until November 26, 23,256 traffic accidents occurred nationwide, killing 8,272 people and injuring 22,434 others. Compared to the same period last year, the numbers of traffic accidents and the resulting deaths and injuries are down by 14.4 percent, 4.1 percent and 17.84 percent. From early this year until Wednesday, traffic police handled more than 4 million violations of traffic rules, issued fines totaling VND2,365 billion (US$111.15 million), impounded  24,102 automobiles and 497,927 motorcycles, and revoked 340,510 driver’s licenses. The period also saw the numbers of registered automobiles and motorbikes amount to 177,444 and 2,402,819 respectively. Earlier on November 10, a memorial service and requiem was held in Ho Chi Minh City-based Vinh Nghiem Pagoda for the dead victims of road accidents in Vietnam. The event was hold to mark the World Day of Remembrance for Victims of Road Traffic Accidents, which falls on the third Sunday of November each year. Speaking at the requiem, the Transport Minister Dinh La Thang shared the grief suffered by the victims’ families, and called on everybody to strictly comply with the regulations on traffic safety and order. In Vietnam, around 9,000 people die in road accidents every year, almost 25 deaths per day, and hundreds of thousands of others suffer life-time injuries, the minister said. In the world, road accidents claim about 1.3 million lives every year, and the figure is forecast to increase to 1.8-1.9 million in the near future, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee.

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