A bus driver (left) is questioned by police after testing positive for drugs while driving on National Highway 20 in Dong Nai province, October 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Thai Ha
Thirty-one drivers in the southern province of Dong Nai tested positive for drugs during a week of traffic police inspections following a sleeper bus crash that left five people dead.
Dong Nai police said on Saturday that forces had been deployed to ensure safety on accident-prone national highways, such as 1A, 20 and 51.
Police issued fines totaling more than VND1.8 billion ($73,350), revoked 156 driver’s licenses and seized 197 vehicles. They also found 146 alcohol violations and 31 drivers tested positive for drugs while driving.
On October 13, a police team on National Highway 20 found a bus on Bien Hoa-Tan Phu Road showing signs of traffic violations and inspected it. Its driver tested positive for drugs. Three days later, police discovered another truck transporting agricultural products from Lam Dong to Ho Chi Minh City, in which its driver and assistant were using drugs.
Late last month, a sleeper bus and a 6-seater van collided head-on along National Highway 20, which runs through Dong Nai to connect HCMC with the upper tourist town of Da Lat, killing five people. A representative of the Roads Department of the Ministry of Transport said the sleeper bus was traveling at 69 km/h just before the accident, while the permitted speed on the road section was a maximum of 50 km/h. The bus driver was driving without a license, as his had also been revoked for speeding.
