After a particularly serious accident between a small car and 3 trucks on the Cam Lo – La Son expressway, from the actual inspection and review, the representative of the Traffic Police Department – Ministry of Public Security said that, although called an expressway, this road cannot be exploited at the actual expressway speed.
To explain this, the representative of the Traffic Police Department said that due to the narrow road, there is only 1 lane and 1 emergency lane, so when encountering slow-moving vehicles, other vehicles cannot overtake them. In cases where drivers want to overtake, they have to cross the solid line or encroach on the emergency lane, posing a risk of traffic accidents.
The Cam Lo – La Son expressway has only 1 lane, with no hard median barrier, posing hidden risks of accidents. Photo: Vi Thao
In addition, along the 98.3 km route through the two provinces of Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue, there are many intersections, and each intersection has sections with 3 lanes, inadvertently creating numerous bottlenecks.
“The situation is very dangerous for drivers, especially those who are not familiar with the road, particularly at night when visibility and observation are limited,” said the representative of the Traffic Police Department in charge of traffic on the Cam Lo – La Son expressway.
According to the representative of the Traffic Police Department, the recent car accident on the Cam Lo – La Son expressway was due to the driver recklessly overtaking (overtaking on the right), but it occurred in an area with 3 lanes (at the Cau Tuan intersection, Huong Tho commune, Hue City) and then narrowed down to 1 lane. Objectively speaking, the driver may have been driving in the section with 3 lanes, and when overtaking on the right, they were caught off guard when they saw the narrow point of the lane too close, resulting in not being able to handle it in time (?).
No other country has a 1-lane expressway like Vietnam
Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Quang – Vietnam Road Association, said that in the technical criteria and standards for building expressways in the world, there is no expressway with only 1 lane or a 2-lane expressway without an emergency lane. “Only Vietnam has seen a 1-lane expressway and a 2-lane expressway without an emergency lane. The infrastructure does not meet expressway standards, but operating at expressway speeds is very dangerous and will inevitably cause significant consequences for the people and society,” Dr. Nguyen Quang said.
According to the representative of Vietnam’s Road Administration, before the road was opened to traffic and put into operation, the Department, together with the Traffic Police Department, surveyed the infrastructure on the route and proposed traffic organization and flow segmentation plans.
However, after the recent traffic accident, the Vietnam Road Administration is reviewing the positions of intersections and the expanded and narrowed sections of the road, including the section at the Cau Tuan intersection (where the accident occurred), to report to the Ministry of Transport and promptly propose traffic organization plans and make appropriate infrastructure adjustments as soon as possible.
Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Quang – Vietnam Road Association, said that in the technical criteria and standards for building expressways in the world, there is no expressway with only 1 lane or a 2-lane expressway without an emergency lane.
“Only Vietnam has seen a 1-lane expressway and a 2-lane expressway without an emergency lane. The infrastructure does not meet expressway standards, but operating at expressway speeds is very dangerous and will inevitably cause significant consequences for the people and society,” Dr. Nguyen Quang said.
National Assembly Deputy Nguyen Thi Suu
