Proposals from experts and professional units are the basis for the Ministry of Health to research and propose regulations on alcohol concentration in blood or breath for drivers.

On February 5, the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management (Ministry of Health) said it had sent a dispatch to experts and a number of specialized units requesting opinions and recommendations on the issue of alcohol concentration in the blood or breath of drivers of vehicles.

According to the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment, proposals from experts and professional units are the basis for the unit to research and propose regulations on alcohol concentration in blood or breath for drivers. The Ministry of Health also requested experts and research units to send proposals and opinions to the Ministry of Health before February 20.

Recently, at the press conference providing information for the first quarter of the Ministry of Health, expressing his opinion on the proposal to criminally prosecute drivers with alcohol levels "exceeding the threshold", Mr. Nguyen Trong Khoa, Deputy Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management, said that he supports the handling of administrative violations involving alcohol levels when driving vehicles in traffic.

“In my personal opinion, if alcohol concentration violations cause accidents, they must be prosecuted. If the alcohol concentration is high enough to not be eligible to drive, they must be strictly handled. However, we will have to refer to regulations from other countries in the world to come up with a harmonized regulation,” Mr. Khoa stated. At the same time, Mr. Khoa also said that thanks to strict handling of alcohol concentration violations, the number of traffic accidents has decreased significantly. Currently, the Ministry of Health is coordinating with the National Traffic Safety Committee to compile statistics and will soon have specific figures on the reduction in the number of traffic accidents.

Regarding the current regulations on alcohol concentration for drivers, the 2008 Road Traffic Law prohibits driving cars, tractors, and specialized motorbikes on the road with alcohol concentration in the blood or breath. However, at the workshop "The harmful effects of alcohol and beer on road traffic participants" organized by the Ministry of Public Security in coordination with the Ministry of Health at the end of January, Dr. Tran Huu Minh, Chief of Office of the National Traffic Safety Committee, said that the assessment of the administrative penalty for drivers violating alcohol concentration is relatively high, with good deterrence. However, the current law stipulates that people with alcohol concentration at level 3 (over 0.4 mg/liter of breath or over 80 mg/100 ml of blood) no matter how high, will still receive the same penalty. For example, people who drink 5 glasses of beer or 30 glasses of beer can be fined at the same level. This is not entirely consistent with the basic principle of administrative sanctions, which is to impose a penalty commensurate with the level of violation.

Therefore, Mr. Tran Huu Minh proposed that if the alcohol concentration exceeds level 3, it should still be divided into higher administrative penalties. Drivers who violate alcohol concentration especially seriously, leading to complete loss of control, possibly causing a catastrophic traffic accident, should be criminally prosecuted.

NGUYEN QUOC