In the draft Decree detailing a number of articles of the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety, the Ministry of Public Security proposed that 4 types of vehicles must be equipped with journey monitoring devices (GSHT) and driver image recording devices.

Specifically, Article 25 of the draft Decree stipulates that commercial transport vehicles, tractors, ambulances, and traffic rescue vehicles must install GSHT equipment according to the provisions of the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety (TTATGT), effective from January 1, 2025.

Thus, compared to current regulations, the installation of GSHT devices and driver image recording devices in the above draft decree is more extensive.

Currently, the types of vehicles that must be equipped with GHST devices include: Passenger transport vehicles, freight transport vehicles and shuttle vehicles.

Accordingly, the draft clearly states that the GSHT device must comply with national technical regulations and ensure continuous operation while the vehicle is in traffic.

The GSHT device must ensure the minimum requirements for storing and transmitting information such as: Route, operating speed, continuous driving time and other information and data to the GSHT data management system of the Traffic Police Department (Ministry of Public Security).

Information and data from the GPS devices installed on these vehicles are used to ensure security, road traffic safety, handle violations of the law, and manage road transport. They are connected and shared with the Vietnam Road Administration (Ministry of Transport) and relevant agencies.

The draft also stipulates that the Traffic Police Department will store vehicle violation data for 1 year.

In addition, transport business units, ambulance operation units, and traffic rescue units must maintain the operation of the GSHT equipment installed on transport business vehicles, tractor-trailers, ambulances, and traffic rescue vehicles to ensure the provision of information as prescribed.

In particular, it is not allowed to use technical measures, peripheral equipment, or other measures to interfere with the operation, disrupt (or interfere) with GPS, GSM waves, or distort data of the GPS device installed on commercial transport vehicles, tractors, ambulances, or traffic rescue vehicles.

Before driving a vehicle, the driver must use his/her identification card to log in information through the card reader of the vehicle's GPS device and log out when finished driving to serve as a basis for determining continuous driving time and working time during the day.

Regarding the regulation on installing driver image recording devices, the draft decree stipulates that passenger cars with 8 seats or more (excluding the driver's seat) used for transportation business, tractor-trailers, ambulances, and traffic rescue must install driver image recording devices.

Vehicle image storage time ensures at least the most recent 24 hours for vehicles operating on routes up to 500km and at least the most recent 72 hours for vehicles operating on routes over 500km.

In addition, images from the image recording device installed on the vehicle must be transmitted at a frequency of 12 - 20 times/hour (equivalent to 3 - 5 minutes/data transmission) to the transport business unit and stored for at least the last 72 hours.

Speaking further with VietNamNet, a traffic expert expressed his agreement with the expansion of vehicles required to install GSHT devices, including ambulances.

This person acknowledged that for a long time, private ambulance services have been operating in a chaotic manner, without specific regulations on prices or operating conditions. Therefore, many heartbreaking stories have occurred recently due to this type of transportation business.

For example, in March 2023, an ambulance of Huynh Quoc 115 Emergency Transport Company Limited (District 8, Ho Chi Minh City) "overcharged" 3.5 million VND for a 4km distance from Ward 10, Tan Binh District to Cho Ray Hospital.

In August 2023, the family of Mr. TG (36 years old, living in Ca Mau province) had to spend up to 16 million VND on an ambulance to take their child from Ca Mau to Ho Chi Minh City for emergency treatment. Despite spending a large amount of money to save their child, the baby did not survive. Running out of money, when taking the child back to his hometown, the father had to put the child's body in a Styrofoam box.

“I think the lack of specific regulations for ambulances is the reason why people get into these awkward situations,” this expert said.

Therefore, he believes that requiring ambulances to install GPS devices and devices that record images of drivers is a necessary tool to make this transportation service transparent.