Hanoi (VNA) – Although Hanoi is one of the country’s biggest cities, itssystem for removing broken-down vehicles from crowded roads is ineffective,traffic users and experts said.

Traffic rescue sometimes takes a long time due to unprofessional and inadequatetechnical operations, resulting in traffic jams and inconvenience for roadusers, said Do Trong Tuan, deputy head of Hanoi Police’s Traffic Police Team No14.

“The situation of cars overturning or ‘lying’ on the Thanh Tri Bridge due to abroken engine, causing traffic jams for many hours after traffic accidentsoccurs so often,” he told the Kinh Te va Do Thi (Economic and UrbanAffairs) newspaper.

Tuan pointed out the city lacks adequate equipment to recover trucks with largeloading capacity, worsening the traffic problems after a work.

The problem is reported throughout the city.

“With many other road users who suffered in the hot weather in rush hour inLang Ha Street one day, I was stuck on the road for hour,” said Phuong Lan, aresident of Dong Da district. “The reason turned out that a car broken on theroad was blocking traffic. The car owner phoned many vehicle rescuing servicesseveral times but she was asked to wait because there were no recovery vehiclesavailable at the moment,” she said.

Major Vu Van Hoai, head of Hanoi Police’s Traffic Safety Dissemination, saidtraffic police divisions can handle only motorbikes and small vehicles. Fortrucks with capacity of over 10 tonnes, they have to hire recovery service fromprivate enterprises.

The traffic police bear a range of responsibilities in the aftermath of acrash. In cases of fire and explosion, the traffic police must inform roadusers through the mass media as well as asked traffic officials to regulate thetraffic.

The emergency staff 115 is in charge of the first aid work for victims oftraffic accidents. But many cases of traffic accidents occur in narrow cityroads or at peak hours. Emergency forces are still likely to come late, so thetraffic police must co-ordinate with them to rescue the victims.

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Therefore, the vehicle recovery personnel must have basic knowledge ofautomotive issues and first aid in order to handle all possible rescuesituations, Hoai said, adding that sometimes the recovery service does not meetexpectations.

In recent years, the traffic pressure in Hanoi has increased and so havetraffic accidents.

Statistics from the City’s Traffic Safety Committee showed that there were1,045 traffic accidents in the first nine months of this year, killing 414 andinjuring 828.

Most of traffic accidents related to passenger and goods transportationservices.

It is time for the city authorities to set up a professional traffic rescuecentre or a specialised force for this task, said Dang Chi Nga, a trafficexpert.

He suggested that city authority assign the traffic police force to build aprofessional rescue centre with a network covering the entirecity. Otherwise, local authorities may be required to set up mobile rescueteams.

Specially, Nga said, the city should consider buying equipment to recoverlarge-capacity vehicles and employing staff with professional training.

The charge of the service was also matter of concern for users, expertssaid. Currently, the fee for recovery service is paid by the vehicleowners.

If the city has a rescue centre with professional forces and adequateequipment, Nga said, it can ensure people are not overcharged by privateenterprises.

Most importantly, the traffic police can take the initiative in dispatchingpersonnel to the site to rescue the victims of traffic accidents, minimisingthe duration of traffic jams.

Vu Thi Trang, a resident from Cau Giay district, agreed that the vehiclerecovery service needs significant improvement.

“I had a terrible night three months ago. My car broke down while I wasdriving on Tran Thai Tong Street. I was terribly frightened. Because I – awoman – was alone in the late night,” she said. “I could not contact anypublic vehicle rescuing services at that moment. So after calling hundreds ofphone calls I found a private vehicle rescuing service with high charge. But inthat time I did not have any choice but paying.”

“I wondered why the traffic police did not have the 24-hour service?” shesaid.-VNA