Data and education are the keys to safer roads in Vietnam

By David Wroth

Vietnam is getting safer each year.

These are the findings of the second annual UL Safety Index, which ranks the safety of 187 countries using data science and algorithms. The goal of the Index is to provide Vietnam’s policymakers with data and insights to help them determine their next investments in national safety.

Among the conclusions that we can draw from this year’s UL Safety Index, none are more clear than that Vietnam should prioritize road safety, an area the country performed below average. Vietnam ranked 153 of 187 countries globally in road safety and eighth out of 11 countries in Southeast Asia, ranking only ahead of Malaysia, Laos and Thailand. Every day, 61 lives are lost on Vietnam’s roads. Beyond the social cost of these tragedies, there is also a massive financial cost. Each year, Vietnam suffers losses of an estimated $5 billion USD because of traffic injuries and fatalities.

Recently, UL hosted an expert panel to discuss safety issues in Vietnam, with a focus on road safety and recommendations for Vietnam’s policymakers. The distinguished panel included Ms. Mirjam Sidik, Chief Executive Officer of the AIP Foundation, a non-governmental organization that aims to provide life-saving road safety knowledge and skills to low and middle income countries, as well as Professor Huynh Van Tuan, Vice Principal of the College of Transportation in Ho Chi Minh City. In the discussion, the panelists advocated for greater measures to protect people on Vietnam’s roads and emphasized the importance of education in creating safer traffic behavior.

While there was broad agreement on the magnitude of the problem, the panelists recognized that there is no single solution to make Vietnam’s roads safer. Instead, there must be a combination of actions to boost traffic safety. Practices, such as but not limited to, ensuring that everyone, including children, wear helmets on motorbikes and use seat belts more conscientiously in both the front and back seats of cars, enforcing speed limits and drunk driving laws more strictly and improving public transportation, would all contribute to improved road safety.

There was also agreement that education plays a critical factor in improving road safety, and UL’s research supports this. The UL Safety Index demonstrates a clear positive correlation between levels of high-quality national education and overall national safety.

“Taking the long view, educating the younger generation to create better behaviors on the roads is vital. There should be modules or lessons on road safety in high schools and even primary schools,” said Professor Tuan, who noted that children can also have a strong influence on the driving habits of their parents.

The panel also concurred that Vietnam must set aggressive road safety targets to bring about the desired improvement in standards.

“Ultimately, we should be ambitious and aim for zero road crash fatalities and serious injuries,” said Ms. Sidik, who noted that policymakers now have access to extensive safety data and research, such as the UL Safety Index, to create a blueprint for increased safety. She recommended that funding for road safety campaigns be increased, given the high rates of road crashes in Vietnam.

There are many approaches that Vietnam can take to improve its overall safety standards, but policymakers will need to make it a priority. Our hope is that the UL Safety Index will provide Vietnam’s policymakers with the data and insights needed to inform and maximize efforts and investments to improve safety.

We believe that safety efforts on the roads will go a long way toward making Vietnam a safer nation overall, and we look forward to seeing Vietnam’s continued progress in the next UL Safety Index.

David Wroth is a safety expert and is UL’s Director of Data Science. UL fosters safe living and working conditions for people everywhere through the application of science to solve safety, security and sustainability challenges. To learn more about UL visit ul.com and the annual UL Safety Index, visit ULSafetyIndex.org.