Absence of punishment

Deadly, heart-rending traffic accidents are taking place, one after another in recent days, in HCMC, ringing a big bell of worry, raising a big voice of concern, and stirring up public indignation. It is taken for granted that moving on the street in the city has always been so dangerous, especially for fast and careless riders. However, in recent accidents that are front-paged in local media, the riders are not to blame, but it is the poor safety of public works – and the lack of responsibility on the part of State agencies as well – that has taken their lives.

That is the case of a container truck running into a deep cave-in hole on Kha Van Can Street in Thu Duc District on Monday, falling off and almost smashing a seven-seat SUV nearby, with two people inside narrowly escaping death. That is the case of the 44-year-old Ha Thi Tuyet Mai, who was instantly killed last Saturday by a truck when her scooter hit the protruding edge of a sewage hole on the same street. That is the case of a man riding on To Ngoc Van Street in the same district one day later and tumbling into another open sewage hole, only to be swept away by the runoff and drowned. And there are many more.

Thanh Nien newspaper says recent fatal traffic accidents caused by poor-quality road surface are so numerous, and all are due to the carelessness of contractors as well as the irresponsibility of relevant State agencies. In many cases, the road surface is “temporarily restored for circulation” while pending the completion of the whole construction project, and such temporary solutions kill the people.

Nguyen Minh Hoa, dean of the Urban Study Faculty at the HCMC University of Social Sciences and Humanities, says on Thanh Nien that it is imperative to rethink the term “temporary restoration” as it breaches the law. “In principle, before circulation is permitted, the authorities have to check conditions to ensure safety for the people… While restoration is temporary, traffic circulation is real, and allowing such a solution is like putting human lives at risk.”

Hundreds of readers in their feedbacks on news stories covering such fatalities vent their anger at what they say the lack of responsibility or dereliction of duty on the part of State management agencies.

On Sai Gon Tiep Thi, a reader asserts that the municipal government is obliged to provide standardized urban spaces that are not dangerous to the people. Meanwhile, there are currently thousands of such deadly traps on the street in the city, such as hundreds of holes on Nguyen Kiem Street, and scores of other sewage edges that rise higher than the road surface on Dinh Bo Linh Street. Many of such faults have been left unattended to for months if not years.

Even the Department of Transport as the highest authority for traffic circulation in the city sees itself as an outsider without any direct part in such a situation, according to the newspaper. After floods of decries and public grievances, the department simply calls for pinpointing the responsibility of relevant parties in these accidents. In the case of Ha Thi Tuyet Mai’s death, the department orders that “Road Administration Zone 2 coordinate with relevant agencies to pinpoint responsibility and make a report to the department prior to October 19,” says the newspaper.

The ball of responsibility finds no court since no one has come up to assume responsibility, while the referee does not “whistle to determine who are to blame,” according to Nguoi Lao Dong.

The irresponsibility among State agencies, according to media, is ascertained by the fact that not a single official has made any apology or any word of consolation to relatives of the victims, “as if my brother’s death has nothing to do with their responsibility,” says Vo Ai Quoc, brother-in-law of the victim Vu Hong Thai at his funeral, as covered on Sai Gon Tiep Thi. Meanwhile, Nguoi Lao Dong comments that such agencies feel no responsibility, so they do not see the need to make an apology, only the deadly silence. “Apologies are something luxurious for them, and show the absence of conscience and morale.”

In all these heart-sinking fatalities, the media agrees that the insensitivity on the part of contractors and State managers is due to the absence of punishment.

A lawyer says on Tuoi Tre that under the law, State agencies have the obligation to maintain and repair roads for public safety. Lawyer Thai Van Chung says on Thanh Nien that not a single criminal lawsuit has been filed although these accidents have all conditions to constitute a criminal offense.

Sai Gon Tiep Thi laments that not any official has been dismissed due to these accidents, and quoting a reader, the newspaper says “we sincerely demand that the director of the transport department be dismissed.”

Le Hieu Dang, a senior figure at the Central Committee of Vietnam Fatherland Front, shows his regret on Nguoi Lao Dong that harsh punishments have not been imposed on those responsible.

“Repeated accidents drooping on the people are due to the fact that not a single one has been punished,” he says.