Heartbreaking images and the fatal consequences of some recent drunk driving accidents have caused a wave of public anger on social media.

The increasing number of drunk drivers shows that 'legal punishments are not strong enough to deter the behavior,' Phan Thi Thu Hien, deputy director of the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam, said. Last year over 91,000 drivers had received sanctions for drunk driving, but in just four months this year the number is 50,000, a 45 percent increase over the same period last year.Ī survey found that 90 percent of people drive after drinking alcohol despite knowing it is illegal, Tran Huu Minh, a representative of the National Traffic Safety Committee, said.Įxperts said the lenient penalties for drunk driving are also to blame. Drunk driving was to blame in 274 accidents.Īlarmingly, the number of drivers exceeding alcohol limits is increasing, according to statistics from the traffic police department. Official data shows there were over 4,000 traffic accidents in the country in the first quarter of 2019, leading to 1,905 deaths. He admitted he had drunk six beers and alcohol with friends before the accident.

The alcohol level in his breath was very high, and he was not sober enough to talk to the police until the next morning.Īnother accident a week later claimed two lives when a drunk driver crashed his car into a motorbike. She had been cleaning a street in the capital when a drunk driver lost control of his car and slammed into her. Le Thi Thu Ha, a Hanoi sanitation worker, had been hit by a car on the night of April 22.

Drunk drivers killed by month