Most Vietnamese big motorcycle riders know little about transport law

Some 70-80 percent riders of big-capacity motorcycles in Vietnam are not fully aware of road transport laws and regulations, local media reported on Thursday.

The remarks came from senior lieutenant colonel Tran Huu Toan from the Transport Police Department, said local newspaper Pioneer.

According to statistics from the Vietnam Registry, 3,414 motorcycles with a cylinder capacity of over 175 cubic centimeters were imported into Vietnam between early March last year and early May this year. In Ho Chi Minh city, there are 13,700 big-capacity motorcycles, accounting for 48 percent of the country's total, said Major Nguyen Trung Phong, who is also deputy head of the city's Transport Police Bureau.

Many riders often drive their big-capacity motorcycles too fast or in wrong lanes, and many people proposed that they should be allowed to run in on lanes for automobiles and highways, local newspaper Youth reported.

Since 2014, five transport accidents involving big-capacity motorcycles have happened in the city, leaving four people dead and five others injured, said Phong.

By the end of last year, there had been more than 43 million motorbikes on Vietnam's roads, making up over 85 percent of the country's means of transport, local online newspaper VnMedia reported, quoting statistics from the Transport Ministry.