The figure was reported by Le Dinh Tho, deputy minister of the Ministry of Transport at a meeting held on January 11 to review traffic safety issues last year. 

As many as 18,736 traffic accidents occurred in Vietnam in 2018

According to Tho, it meant that the country saw an average of 23 deaths due to traffic accidents every day. He added that the number of traffic accidents dropped by 6.71%, deaths by 0.04% and injuries by 13.13% over the previous year.

Road accidents accounted for the highest number with 18,490 cases which killed 8,079 people and injured 14,732 others, down by 6.61%; 0.12% and 13,19% respectively on-year.

The railway sector witnessed 147 cases, leaving 119 dead and 60 injured, down by 10.37%; 10.53% and 20% on-year.

During the year, there were 83 inland waterway accidents, killing 46 and injuring 6. Meanwhile, the aviation sector reported 80 accidents.

Tho said that bad awareness of traffic participants and the rocketing rise in vehicle use were among the biggest challenges for traffic safety. A shortage of human resources, lack of determination in handling traffic-related violations and shortcomings in urban planning and management were also problems.

The country has set a target to cut the number of traffic accidents, deaths and injuries by 5-10% this year.