All vehicles will be banned from traveling on the section of Le Duan Boulevard stretching from Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street to Pasteur Street in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City on three days this week to facilitate the organization of a ceremony to remember road traffic crash victims.

The ban will be effective from 0:00 on Friday to 15:00 on Sunday, the municipal Department of Transport said on Tuesday.

Alternative routes are as follows:

Route 1: Nam Ky Khoi Nghia => Alexandre de Rhodes => Pham Ngoc Thach => Le Duan

Or Nam Ky Khoi Nghia => Han Thuyen => Pasteur => Le Duan

Route 2: Le Duan => Pasteur => Alexandre de Rhodes => Nam Ky Khoi Nghia

Or Le Duan => Cong Xa Paris => Han Thuyen => Nam Ky Khoi Nghia  

Commuters must follow orders by traffic officers or lights when traveling in this area, the transport department said.

In related news, the National Traffic Safety Committee cooperated with the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee to hold a press meeting on Tuesday, announcing activities to observe the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims in Vietnam.

The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is commemorated on the third Sunday of November each year.  

This year, the activities are organized nationwide to remember the deceased and support their families.

Everyone should spend one minute commemorating road traffic victims in Vietnam and around the world, Khuat Viet Hung, deputy chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, said at the press meeting.   

Road accidents cause grave socio-economic consequences, Hung underlined.

“It’s most tragic that road crashes have killed so many people and plunged myriad families into dire straits,” he said.

Road crashes are still a global challenge as annually they kill about 1.3 million people, injure 50 million, and cause more than US$1,500 billion in losses around the world, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee.

In January-October this year, 14,251 accidents happened in Vietnam, killing 6,318 victims and injuring 10,873 others, the committee reported.

Government agencies have launched many campaigns to warn the people of the dangers of road crashes but it is their own awareness and willingness to abide by the traffic law that count, Hung said.

In the press meeting, the committee unveiled plans to remember road accident victims, including a minute’s silence in schools, visits to victims’ families, and Buddhist requiems for the dead.    

The main activity of remembrance in Vietnam will be the ceremony on Le Duan Boulevard in Ho Chi Minh City at 7:30 am on Sunday.

On October 26, 2005, the United Nations endorsed the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims as a global day to be observed every third Sunday in November each year, making it a major advocacy day for road traffic injury prevention.

Vietnam has organized events to commemorate the victims since 2012.

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