According to Mr. Nguyen Minh Dung, "I was driving a car on the road, not drinking alcohol, driving in the correct lane, not violating anything, but many times the traffic police asked me to stop the car to test my alcohol concentration, wasting my time."

Mr. Nguyen Minh Dung wondered, in what cases are traffic police allowed to stop a vehicle for inspection? If the driver has not committed any violations, can the traffic police stop the vehicle to check the alcohol concentration? If so, according to which document? If the driver does not comply with the traffic police's orders and thinks he has not committed any violations, will he be punished?

Responding to this issue on November 3, the Ministry of Public Security said that Article 87 of the 2008 Law on Road Traffic stipulates: Road traffic police conduct patrols and controls to control people and vehicles participating in road traffic; handle violations of road traffic laws by people and vehicles participating in road traffic and are responsible before the law for their decisions....

Article 16 of Circular No. 65/2020/TT-BCA dated June 19, 2020 of the Minister of Public Security stipulates the tasks, powers, forms, contents and procedures for patrolling, controlling and handling administrative violations of road traffic by the Traffic Police (Article 16 of Circular No. 32/2023/TT-BCA dated August 1, 2023 of the Minister of Public Security replacing Circular No. 65/2020/TT-BCA, effective from September 15, 2023) specifically stipulates the cases in which Traffic Police officers are allowed to stop vehicles for inspection, as follows:

Directly detect or through technical equipment detect and collect violations of road traffic laws and other violations of laws;

Implement orders and plans for general control of vehicles to ensure road traffic order and safety and social order; plans for patrolling, controlling and handling violations according to thematic issues to ensure road traffic order and safety and social order issued by competent authorities...

There are reports, reflections, recommendations and denunciations from organizations and individuals about violations of the law by people and vehicles participating in road traffic.

Point b Clause 5 and Points b, c Clause 11 Article 5 of Decree No. 100/2019/ND-CP dated December 30, 2019 of the Government regulating administrative sanctions for violations in the field of road and railway traffic (amended and supplemented by Decree No. 123/2021/ND-CP dated December 28, 2021 of the Government) stipulate:

A driver who commits a traffic violation and fails to comply with the orders or instructions of a traffic controller or traffic inspector shall be fined from VND 4,000,000 to VND 6,000,000 and shall have his/her driving license revoked for 1 to 3 months; if this violation causes a traffic accident, his/her driving license shall be revoked for 2 to 4 months.

TM