Traffic police officers across Vietnam sanctioned more than 24,000 drivers for alcohol concentration violations in the past 15 days, of which nearly 7,900 violators had their driver’s licenses revoked for 23 months -- the highest penalty level.

Colonel Nguyen Quang Nhat, an official of the Traffic Police Department under the Ministry of Public and Security, said on Friday that a total of about 137,000 traffic violations were booked during a nationwide crackdown between August 25 and Thursday this week.

The total amount of fines imposed on these violators was VND248.4 billion (US$10.5 million), and more than 24,000 driver’s licenses were temporarily withdrawn.

Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Dong Nai Province, and Hai Phong City led in terms of the number of violators, according to statistics of the Traffic Police Department.

Over 24,000 drivers who violated the alcohol concentration limit were fined more than VND113 billion ($4.8 million) in combination. 

Notably, officers detected nearly 7,900 people driving with an alcohol level exceeding 0.4 milligrams per liter of breath, which would result in the most severe punishments for drunk driving, according to Vietnamese law.

Each of those violators was slapped with a fine of VND35 million ($1,487) and was stripped of the driver’s licenses for 23 months.

Traffic police officers also handled 70 cases of driving with an exceeding alcohol concentration level and eight drivers testing positive for drugs on expressways.

Besides, the officers discovered over 7,700 trucks with illegally-upgraded trailers and fined their owners a total of VND41.7 billion ($1.77 million).

The ongoing crackdown will be concluded on September 20, Colonel Nhat said, adding that police units in all localities must continue regular patrols afterwards to prevent surges of violations.

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