Strengthen capacity building of road safety and drink-driving prevention

The workshop was conducted by the World Health Organisation, the National and Provincial

Traffic Safety Committees (NTSC) and the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP).

Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and implemented as part of a global program of ten countries with high burdens of road traffic injury, the RS10-V program involves a consortium of international partners (WHO, the Global Road Safety Partnership and Johns Hopkins University) working with various national and provincial road safety officials under the coordination of the NTSC.

The first phase of this new program will be implemented in Ha Nam and Ninh Binh provinces until the end of 2011 with all partners providing financial and technical support to national and provincial authorities in the implementation of select elements of the National Action Plan for Prevention of Drinking and Driving

“Alcohol impairment is a major risk factor for road trauma in Viet Nam. A zero tolerance approach to enforcing legislation that gets alcohol-impaired drivers and riders off the road before someone is injured or killed is one of the most effective of road safety interventions,” said GRSP Global RS10 Coordinator Gayle DiPietro.

Coordinated by the NTSC, this workshop follows on from a central training of trainers workshop held at the People's Police Academy in Ha Noi in September 2010.

Training at all levels, by international and national trainers, focuses on enhanced enforcement strategies, tactics and procedures for the effective prevention of drinking and driving, including the use of alcohol breathalyzers, specially procured for police in the RS-10V provinces.

“The provision of this new enforcement equipment – and training of police to use them as part of an overall enforcement strategy will substantially increase the capacity of police in Ha Nam to implement national road safety legislation,” said WHO Representative to Viet Nam Dr Jean-Marc Olivé.

Than Van Thanh – Chief Secretariat of the NTSC said: “This workshop is designed to share international experiences in good practice enforcement - experiences that can be applied and adopted to the road safety situation in Viet Nam, improving practices and procedures which will ultimately assist our police in reducing injuries and saving lives on our roads.”