VZCZCXRO3522
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD
DE RUEHHI #1810/01 2912237
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 182237Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6538
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 3823
RUEHZS/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RULSDMK/DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION WASHINGTON DC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 001810 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS TO HHS/OGHA (STIEGER/VALDEZ/HICKEY) 
TRANSPORTATION PASS TO NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY 
ADMINISTRATION 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SOCI ELTN VM
SUBJECT: CRAWLING FROM THE WRECKAGE: VIETNAM'S DEADLY ROADWAYS 
 
 
HANOI 00001810  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: Traffic accidents are Vietnam's unrecognized 
killers, leading to many more deaths than HIV/AIDS and avian 
influenza combined.  As Vietnam has become increasingly prosperous, 
the number of motor vehicles, primarily motorbikes, on Vietnamese 
roads has skyrocketed.  Large numbers of poorly trained and 
ill-equipped drivers lead to more and more traffic fatalities. 
Meanwhile, hospitals do not have the resources to care for road 
accident victims.  The Government of Vietnam (GVN) recently passed 
updated road safety legislation, including a revised helmet law, to 
take effect by the end of this year.  Several donors have launched 
public safety campaigns.  Together, these efforts might have an 
impact.  End Summary. 
 
Get Your Motor Runnin': Motor Vehicles Keep Increasing 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶2. (U) Per official statistics, as of December 2006, Vietnam had 
over 21 million motorbikes (one for every four citizens), though 
observers believe that figure may under-represent the actual number. 
 Vietnam is the fastest motorizing nation in the world with 
motorbikes increasing by 15 percent (about 2 million units) each 
year.  Ho Chi Minh City alone has 3.2 million motorcycles and 
316,000 autos legally registered with additional 500,000 motorcycles 
and 60,000 autos registered elsewhere on Ho Chi Minh City roads.  An 
additional one million other motorized vehicles (including 
automobiles, trucks, and buses), together with millions of bicycles 
and pedestrians, clog Vietnam's limited thoroughfares.  Vietnam's 
National Traffic Safety Commission (NTSC) expects significant 
increases in cars and buses, leading to more traffic congestion and 
more collisions with motorbikes. 
 
Highway to Hell:  Traffic Accidents and Road Deaths 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶3. (U) With rapid transition to motor vehicles, the World Health 
Organization (WHO) predicts road accidents will become the third 
leading cause of death in Asia by 2020.  Vietnam is a dubious 
pace-setter with a four-fold increase in traffic accidents over the 
past 10 years.  According to official statistics, 35 people die and 
nearly 70 suffer brain trauma each day from road accidents, with at 
least 12,000 dead and 17,000 seriously injured in 2007 alone. 
Vietnam's over-all traffic-related mortality rate is nearly double 
that of high-income countries.  Traffic accidents are the largest 
cause of death for Vietnamese between 18 and 45 years of age. 
According to the WHO, while Vietnamese between 15 and 24 make up 20 
percent of the total national population, they account for 40 
percent of total severe road traffic crashes.  According to the 
NTSC, Vietnamese highways are particularly dangerous, as 55 percent 
of accidents occur on national highways and 25 percent on provincial 
highways, compared with 17 percent in urban areas. 
 
I Can't Drive 55: Why Are There So Many Accidents 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶4. (U) Nguyen Trong Thai, Deputy Chief of the NTSC Secretariat, 
recently told ESTHOff that 80 percent of accidents occur due to 
non-compliance with traffic regulations, 35 percent of which are due 
to violations of speed limits.  Not surprisingly, accidents spike 
during holiday periods as travel and alcohol consumption increase. 
In a 2005 survey, 30 percent of interviewees admitted to drinking 
and driving.  According to GVN statistics, from 2001 to 2003, 34 
percent of traffic fatalities tested positive for alcohol in their 
bloodstream.  Many deaths and serious injuries occur because 
motorists fail to use safety equipment.  The NTSC estimates that, as 
of mid-2007, only 3 percent of motorbike riders wore helmets.  A 
survey on casualties conducted at the Viet Duc Hospital in Hanoi 
found that 79 percent of traffic accident victims did not wear 
helmets, fasten safety belts or use other safety equipment. 
 
Running on Empty:  Health and Economic Impacts 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶5. (U) Vietnam's high rate of traffic accidents slows economic 
growth and burdens its public health system.  The Asian Development 
Bank (ADB) estimates that traffic deaths and injuries cost the 
Vietnamese economy close to US $885 million each year (2.45% of 
GDP). Road accidents kill many family breadwinners, plunging 
thousands into poverty.  Per the Vietnam Administration of 
Preventive Medicine, the price of traffic accident related 
hospitalizations in 2004 totaled nearly 12 trillion Vietnamese dong 
(approximately USD 750 million).  More recent numbers likely are 
much higher.   Vietnamese doctors describe trauma centers as 
 
HANOI 00001810  002.4 OF 003 
 
 
"gridlocked" due to the high volume of head injuries from road 
accidents, with hospitals and emergency services overwhelmed, 
particularly during holiday periods, and unable to focus on other 
injuries and diseases.  Hospitals in major cities, such as Viet Duc 
hospital in Hanoi and Cho Ray hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, are 
forced to treat road accident victims from large geographical areas 
as provincial hospitals are not equipped to handle serious injuries, 
particularly head trauma.  Vietnam's poor road safety also impacts 
Americans, as the Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City estimated at 
least five deaths of American Citizens in traffic related accidents 
in the past year. 
 
Highway Patrolman: GVN Response 
------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Concerned that public education campaigns had raised 
awareness, but not compliance, with traffic regulations, on June 29, 
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung signed Resolution 32.  The 
resolution, which the NTSC started drafting in December 2006, 
focuses on seven areas:  1) increasing public awareness, 2) 
increasing sanctions for violations of traffic laws (e.g., speeding, 
wrong way on one-way roads), 3) managing quality of vehicles, 4) 
driver training and education, 5) helmet laws, 6) improved 
management of traffic safety, and 7) infrastructure improvements. 
Most notably, Resolution 32 made helmets mandatory on highways and 
for civil servants beginning September 15 and mandatory for all 
motorists on all roads beginning December 15 of this year.  The new 
law increased fines dramatically, up to 150,000 dong (approximately 
USD 9.25) for non-compliance. 
 
¶7. (SBU) In actuality, Resolution 32 enforces many laws already on 
the books.  For example, the GVN required helmets for motorists as 
early as 1995, though the failure to publish implementing 
regulations led motorists to treat the requirements as voluntary. 
This time, according to Thai at the NTSC, the GVN already has 
introduced implementing regulations and published quality standards 
for helmets.  Greig Craft, President of the Asia Injury Prevention 
Foundation (registered as a U.S. 501(c)(3) non-profit), which 
manufacturers Protec motorbike helmets at a facility outside of 
Hanoi, told ESTHOff that while he had heard rumors of slightly 
delayed implementation of the nationwide helmet requirement, he 
remained optimistic that the GVN had the political willpower and 
resources to implement this new mandate.  Craft also noted that for 
the past several years, Protec had produced 100,000-150,000 helmets 
per year.  It now produces 150,000 helmets each month and cannot 
meet consumer demand - a strong sign that Vietnamese motorists 
expect the government to enforce the law. 
 
20 Miles of Bad Highway: Challenges 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) GVN enforcement efforts face many challenges, beginning 
with a lack of resources to improve the underlying road 
infrastructure, standardize driving education and motor vehicle 
inspections, and employ enough traffic police to adequately monitor 
driving behavior.  Inconsistent and sporadic enforcement also will 
open the traffic police to claims of corruption (above and beyond 
the normal, everyday shakedowns) and could quickly dissolve public 
willingness to follow the law.  Some motorists complain that they 
cannot find helmets, particularly for children, and that the lack of 
supply has driven up prices.  Protec's Craft expects additional 
helmet imports from Taiwan and Japan to arrive shortly, but worries 
about substandard domestic helmets (estimated by Craft at about 50 
percent of the market) and counterfeit products coming overland from 
China. 
 
Convoy: Donor Assistance 
------------------------ 
 
¶9. (U) Several donors have begun to focus on this major public 
health issue.  AIPF is coordinating the Vietnam Helmet Wearing 
Campaign (to which the US Embassy made a modest USD 1000 
contribution), through which other governments, international 
organizations and private sector partners (including Intel Vietnam) 
are funding public awareness campaigns promoting helmet use.  AIPF 
is seeking an additional USD 1 million to broaden the message after 
the helmet law comes into effect and to prepare for possible future 
actions to promote seatbelt usage or prevent drunk driving.  In 
2005, the World Bank approved a credit of USD 30 million to fund a 
four-year road safety project.  The ADB and the Japan International 
Cooperation Agency also are funding road safety improvements as part 
of transportation infrastructure loans.  In September, the Bloomberg 
 
HANOI 00001810  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
Family Foundation, set up by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, 
contributed USD 9 million to the World Health Organization to carry 
out road safety programs in Vietnam and Mexico focusing on 
increasing the use of motorcycle helmets, seat-belts and child 
restraints, reducing drink-driving, and improving the visibility of 
pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶10. (U) The GVN and donors are attempting to reduce the carnage on 
Vietnamese roadways.  However, improvements in traffic 
infrastructure and increases in helmet usage only address part of 
the road safety problem.  The GVN and Vietnamese civil society need 
to take more aggressive steps to change the unsafe behavior of 
Vietnamese motorists, particularly speeding, drunk driving, and 
refusing to wear seatbelts.  With many years of experience working 
to change American driving behavior, the USG and advocacy 
organizations could help provide technical assistance and guidance 
to their Vietnamese counterparts on public education campaigns, law 
enforcement, and road and car safety engineering. 
 
ALOISI