Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked municipal and provincial traffic safety committees to intensify measures to further curb traffic accidents in the time to come. 

In his request sent to these committees on February 28, Phuc, who also leads the National Committee for Traffic Safety, referred to a sudden rise in traffic accidents and death during the first two months of the year when travels were high for the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival.

During the time, 5, 636 traffic accidents occurred nationwide, killing 1,973 people, up 17.79 percent over the same period last year. 

The figure included 169 cases with 323 deaths in February alone, which showed increases of 6.11 percent and 44.01 percent from the same month in 2012. 

Traffic accident fatality rose in 37 localities and decreased in 24 others. 

Towards the target of reducing traffic accidents by 5-10 percent in the year, Phuc requested the committees, especially those in localities that faced high traffic accidents, take drastic actions to ensure traffic safety. 

The localities needs to marshal all means and forces to strictly handle violations, while promoting the popularisation of traffic law adherence and helmet use among people, he said. 

The Deputy PM also asked the provinces and cities to work out plans to increase traffic safety in the second quarter of the year, particularly during upcoming holidays on April 30 and May 1.-VNA