Source: Dau tu Date: 10 October, 2012 Page: 14

Vietnam's Traffic Safety Friends

Aiming to create a safer society, many foreign organizations and individuals have joined
hands in ending the "traffic war" in Vietnam through a range of practical activities. Some of
the work has resulted in valuable outcomes such as ensuring safer and friendlier paths for
Vietnamese children on the way to school.
.
Article III: Japanese teacher who teaches traffic safety.

Reported by: Anh Minh.

This is the affectionate way pupils at primary and junior secondary schools located
along four vital national highways in northern Vietnam address Mr. Takao Inami,
Consulting Director of the Project on Strengthening Traffic Safety on National
Highways in Northern Vietnam, funded by a loan from the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA)

In frame: Mr. Takao Inami presenting gifts to pupils who won traffic safety prizes in
Quang Ninh.

A difficult-to-drive project "vehicle"

"Remember that you only have one hour," Ms. Bich Ngoc, from Japan’s Orient Consultants,
tells me when she arranges an appointment with Mr. Takao Inami.
"We are now concentrating on a training workshop on strengthening enforcement capabilities
for more than 300 traffic policemen in the Northern provinces," Mr. Takao Inami begins the
conversation by explaining why the time for the meeting is so "tight", even though the
appointment was booked a week in advance.
Not in a hurry to reveal the contents of one of the most important training workshops during
the project, Mr. Takao Inami says that a number of leading traffic police officers from Tokyo
will be invited to transfer skills to workshop participants.
The project is now at its busiest, as it is being implemented in all 10 provinces of the Red
River Delta. The Japanese consulting director has had to make continuous shuttle trips from
his office in Hanoi to a series of sites that are known as "black spots", where traffic accidents
pose a risk to school children. He also makes many visits to the managerial units of different
project departments at the Vietnam Roads Administration, Police General Department in
charge of administrative management and social order and security, and Ministry of
Education and Training.
It’s well known that there is a need to speed up work at not only the consulting unit but by all
contractors, and the management unit of the project, which as the largest specialized project
has been funded with up to US$65 million. The project aims to have achieved all its
objectives in 2014.
Highly anticipated by the National Traffic Safety Committee of the Ministry of Transport as
well as sponsor JICA, the project has the objectives of cutting down traffic accidents and
reducing damages caused by traffic accidents on four routes of high traffic flow. These routes
include National Highway 3, National Highway 5, National Highway 10 and National
Highway 18, with the work also aimed at contributing to improving awareness of traffic rules
and risks among residents along these routes.
As the outcome of research and proposals from Japanese experts who worked on technical
assistance in traffic safety conducted on these four routes of highest traffic accident risks, the
project consists of 4 different components, namely work to upgrade infrastructure for traffic
safety, improvement of awareness on traffic safety for the people, traffic safety education at
schools, and enforced observance of the Law on Road Traffic Safety.
The work is a combination of a range of techniques that are able to "measure" the
construction component, aid work on eliminating black spots, and improve awareness on
traffic safety. Every component in the project features hundreds of different activities, so the
project is in fact an extremely complicated vehicle with so many details that it is really hard to
"drive".
"The project is an enormous trial for any director," is the evaluation by Mr. Nguyen Huu
Long, General Director of the Management Unit of the traffic safety project, under the
Ministry of Transport.
The job requires a project leader who can not only successfully connect contact points in 10
different provinces and cities; 3 ministries and ministerial-level agencies; dozens of big and
small contractors with different levels of professionalism, and carry out countless
administrative formalities, but also requires a talented manager who is very enthusiastic and
knowledgeable about Vietnam.
After 2 years of implementation, the Project on Strengthening Traffic Safety on National
Highways in Northern Vietnam has been one of the very rare projects that have satisfied both
the Ministry of Transport and the donor in terms of implementation progress. Currently,
upgrades at more than 200 spots noted for heavy traffic and high risk of accidents, as well as
construction of 8 overpasses for pedestrians on National Highway 5, have been closely
monitored by the project’s investor.
In the 3 remaining ‘soft’ components, the project has conducted 18 training courses for more
than 900 trainees from the 10 provinces and cities; 30,204 rotations of people have
participated in traffic safety weeks under themes such as road traffic regulations, development
of traffic culture, safe road walking and crossing, night traffic safety, and alcohol and traffic
safety among other issues.
In the 10 project provinces and cities, traffic accidents have been curbed in all 3 criteria,
namely number of accidents, number of traffic violations and number of deaths. More
importantly, public awareness on traffic rules and the need to comply has been gradually
improved.
"What makes me most satisfied is that 75% of people in project areas have grasped legal
regulations and basic road traffic rules, 87.33% of local people are aware of and know about
traffic culture," says Mr. Takao Inami.

Building concession attitude for Vietnamese pupils

It should be added that it is not accidental that Orient Consultants have put their trust in Mr.
Takao Inami to drive such a ‘vehicle’. Born in 1949, Mr. Takao Inami is one of the senior
road construction engineers that are highly valued by JICA, thanks to his more than 15 years
of experience working for its overseas projects.
Prior to coming to Vietnam, in the role of an estimate calculating and planning engineer in a
JICA research team working on the Project on Strengthening Traffic Safety on National
Highways in Northern Vietnam, Mr. Takao Inami had been involved in management of
Japanese ODA funded projects in a number of countries in South America, South Asia and
Europe. In Vietnam, for a period of nearly 6 years, Mr. Takao Inami contributed his "gray
matter" to 5 JICA funded projects.
As a road construction engineer, one of Mr. Takao Inami's most impressive jobs is to have
taken part in the design and supervision of the Project to Upgrade the Noi Bai - Bac Ninh
section of National Highway 18. Put into operation in 2003, this four-lane expressway section
of 31km in length is still highly valued by bridge and road construction engineers for the
work’s design logic and high construction quality.
It is most exciting that for a couple of years now, in addition to the task of helping the project
investor successfully monitor project implementation and quality, Mr. Takao Inami is now
very effectively playing the role of a teacher in handing down traffic safety knowledge to
thousands of pupils who reside along national highways where the project is being carried out.
From Song Cong, Pho Yen (National Highway 3, Thai Nguyen) to Ban Yen Nhan (National
Highway 5, Hung Yen); Ngo Quyen (National Highway 18, Quang Ninh) etc. thousands of
school pupils from 343 primary and junior secondary schools have participated in training
workshops on traffic safety. This training includes a visit from "teacher" Takao Inami, who
often tells useful stories about the benefits of giving way to others.
"As you know, concession is an important attitude in life and it’s also important when
participating in traffic,” points out Mr. Takao Inami. “It is a factor that helps people ensure
safety for themselves and those around them. It also helps encourage people to refrain from
speeding and making careless passes, which helps avoid unnecessary collisions on the road."
Being from the generation of Japanese that have experienced the two "traffic wars", Mr.
Takao Inami's past experiences are the reasons why he pays such special attention to traffic
safety education for children.
"The problem of traffic accidents in Vietnam now is very similar to our problem in Japan 30
or 40 years ago," says Mr. Takao Inami.
At that time, in addition to urgent work such as building a safe infrastructure system and
eliminating black spots, Japan paid special attention to educating motorists about the need to
comply with traffic law, with special attention paid to adolescents and children because these
were the audiences that could easily change their attitude to new things.
"This is the quickest and most effective and basic solution in solving problems related to
traffic accidents," he says.
Having been in this land for more than 5 years with countless unforgettable memories, Mr.
Takao Inami tells me at the end of our conversation that he has doubled his stay in Vietnam
compared to his initial schedule.
"I will always be willing to do what I can to improve traffic safety in Vietnam, particularly for
the children, even in the position of a foreigner doing traffic safety communication," he says.

"There should be more projects on upgrading infrastructure"

Mr. Nguyen Hoang Hiep,
Deputy Standing Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee.
Activities conducted by Project on Strengthening Traffic Safety on National Highways in
Northern Vietnam, which is funded by JICA and implemented in 10 different localities, has
gained initial outcomes in ensuring traffic safety and reducing the number of violations. From
these initial results, it is very necessary to have projects on upgrading infrastructure in
parallel with instructions and communication activities aimed at changing the traffic
participating behavior of people as well as enforced observance so as to contribute to
curbing traffic accidents.

"Continued assistance for improvement of the network of local roads"

Mr. Toshio Nagase
Deputy Chief Representative of JICA Vietnam Office
The project has brought about initial outcomes, however, work on solving many things
continues in the coming time. In addition to improving transport infrastructure, more
attention should be paid to improving people's awareness. In the coming time, JICA continues
to help improve the network of local roads so that local people do not have to commute on
expressways, National Highway 5, National Highway 10 and so on. JICA is also considering
multiplying this model by efficiently implementing it in other localities.