Seized motorcycles pile up as Vietnam deals with drunk driving

Motorcycles – Vietnam's preferred mode of transport – are piling up on confiscated lots in Ho Chi Minh City as it becomes more cost-effective for some owners to abandon them than pay the fines to get them back.

The city, Vietnam's financial center, has become more aggressive in tackling drunk driving in recent years by increasing fines and impounding vehicles. Those fines now often exceed the value of the vehicles, which many drivers don't reclaim, officials say.

Police are now wondering what to do with it.

Some residents are so frustrated by this that they are taking their complaints public, even though criticizing the ruling Communist Party can be risky in Vietnam.

Nguyen Khang, 30, who works at a bank in Ho Chi Minh City, said an inefficient and unnecessarily punitive system is holding motorcycles “hostage.”

“The relevant authorities also understand this,” he added. “But fundamentally they haven't found a more holistic approach yet.”

The zero tolerance The campaign against drink-driving reflects previous attempts in Vietnam to promote law and order – for example clearing out food vendors from the streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City – which was widely perceived as heavy-handed.

Hue-Tam Jamme, an expert on urban development in Vietnam, said the abandoned motorcycles reflect a transition: As more Vietnamese join the middle class and buy their first cars, bicycles are becoming less essential in a country widely known stands for its motorcycles. traffic.

Car ownership in Vietnam is still far below that of richer countries, although it rose from 3.3 to 4.8 cars per 100 households between 2018 and 2020, recent government data shows.

In Ho Chi Minh City, cars make up a relatively small share of vehicles on the roadway – 13 percent in 2018, according to Professor Jamme's data, but their presence has already raised tensions at street level. There have been occasional physical altercations between car owners and residents who resent the loss of space for motorcycle parking and commerce on sidewalks.

“The motorcycle is no longer the status symbol it used to be,” said Professor Jamme, who teaches at Arizona State University and studies the role vehicles play in Vietnam's cities and economy.

“I'm not that surprised that people are willing to let go,” she added. “A big, heavy fine can be the trigger to say, 'Okay, I'm not even going to take it.'”

A four-year campaign against the harmful effects of alcohol has been a major factor in vehicle seizures across Vietnam in recent years. Among other changes, the maximum fine for drunk driving has roughly doubled in 2020 to the equivalent of more than $300, which is more than the monthly salary of the average Vietnamese worker. The law prohibits people from driving with any amount of alcohol in their system.

The campaign has had tangible effects in a country where beer flows freely in sidewalk restaurants and binge drinking is common. National beer sales down by at least a quarter almost immediately; tens of thousands of people lost theirs driver's licenses; and last year, traffic-related accidents, injuries and fatalities all fell, Ho Chi Minh City police said.

Ho Chi Minh City saw nearly 155,000 vehicles seized in 2022, most of them motorcycles, and most as a result of alcohol-related traffic violations, a local police official said told state news media last month.

Nguyen Huu Liem, 56, a construction worker in Ho Chi Minh City, said both his driver's license and motorcycle were confiscated in January after he “had a little drink to relax with a friend at the end of the day. ”

“In my opinion, the fine is excessive for the average worker,” he said.

His motorcycle is worth five million VND, the equivalent of about $200. The drunk driving fine he received was about $80 more. He paid the fine anyway, he said, because police told him it was the only way to get his driver's license back.

Other drivers leave their bikes at police premises in Ho Chi Minh City, and the pile-up causes administrative headaches.

Since last month, it was the city's traffic police shortage of motorcycle parking with 100,000 square meters, about the size of a city park, police told local news media. There have been thousands of bicycles sold at auctionbut the backlog has continued to grow and the fires have continued to grow broke out every now and then at the lots.

Jack Dang, 35, a construction worker in Ho Chi Minh City, said he witnessed groups of people searching the plots for motorcycle parts.

“Once they're brought here,” he said, “it's over.”