A middle-income country in South East Asia, Vietnam has a population of 91.71 million. According to the WHO estimates, Vietnam suffers from 22,419 road traffic fatalities every year. WHO reports strong laws in Viet Nam addressing helmet use; however drink driving, speed limit, seat belt use, and child restraint laws need to be improved. To date, Vietnam has acceded to two of six UN Road Safety Conventions.
Mr. Ousmane Dione, Country Director for Vietnam, World Bank
On 8 April 2017, the Special Envoy met with the World Bank representatives to discuss road safety issues in Vietnam, the World Bank’s involvement in road safety in Viet Nam and joint priorities for further involvement and partnership. The World Bank team shared that it considers road safety a critical issue, however that there is lack of coordination in addressing post-crash care. An overview of main road safety challenges in the country was presented as well as the summary of World Bank financed transport projects and their active work in addressing road safety issue in Vietnam. The Special Envoy advised World Bank representatives to contact Dr. Shaw Voon Wong, Director General of MIROS for discussing the establishment of a road safety observatory, aimed at building analytical capacity for enhancing road safety research.