Traffic accident cause losses of some VND115 trillion (US$4.9 billion) to Vietnam per year, or VND300 billion ($12.76 million) per day, Khuat Viet Hung, permanent vice chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, was quoted by the government portal as saying.
The scene of a traffic accident. Photo: Kinhtedothi.vn
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He affirmed that in the past few years, Vietnam has curbed traffic accidents when the number of deaths and injuries has been reduced over the years.
However, Hung said that the reduction of traffic accidents is not sustainable. In the first nine months of 2018, 13,242 accidents occurred in the whole country, down 7.8% on year, of which nearly 70% were caused by motorbike drivers. The accidents killed 6,012 people and injured 10,319, down 1.84% and 12.45%, respectively.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 1.2 million people in the world die each year and over 50 million people are injured in traffic accidents, Hung said.
Without strong solutions to improve traffic safety, traffic accidents could kill 1.9 million people annually by 2020, Hung added.
