Traffic deaths up in Vietnam

Traffic deaths up in Vietnam

HANOI (AP): Traffic accidents in Vietnam killed 5,865 people in the first nine months of this year, a 11.6 percent jump from the same period last year, an official of the National Transport Safety Committee said on Monday.

A total of 17,191 traffic accidents were reported nationwide in the nine months through September, an increase of 4.6 percent from the same period last year, the official said on the customary condition of anonymity. Another 18,999 people were injured in the traffic accidents, he added.

Road accidents account for 97.3 percent of all traffic accidents -- which also include railway and waterway mishaps -- and 94.8 percent of traffic deaths, he said.

The official blamed the increase in accidents on the boom in transportation and people's ignorance of traffic laws.

Traffic accidents killed 7,051 people during all of last year.