SPECIALIST PUBLIC RELATION WRITING & PRACTICING – COMM2380

DRIVING ETHICS’
POSITION PAPER
LECTURER: DOAN MAI ANH

STUDENT: LAM XUAN MAI - s3169238

 POSITION PAPER

DRIVING ETHICS
Together with the economic growth and modernization, the number of transport is also increasing
noticeably. Public transports such as bus and taxi are getting more and more popular in Vietnam.
Moreover, obtaining the driving license is not hard and some people can even purchase it without taking
efforts or attending any driving class. This paper will discuss about ethics in driving, a problem which
gain its seriousness in nature when there are more accidents reported to be caused by drivers’
carelessness and negligence. The paper will focus on taxi, bus, and trucks which have increased
dramatically in the recent years. Unfortunately, majority of these traffics are controlled by drivers who
get very little education because of their family’s financial difficulties. Some realistic examples will be
used in this paper to identify and analyze the common causes of the traffic accident. Some
recommendations will also be canvassed in attempt to bring the solution for the situation improvement

In Vietnam, there are many automobile accidents which are caused by careless driving attitudes. In
2008, there were 12,800 cases of traffic accidents, killed 11,600 persons and injured 8,100 others
(General Statistics Office of Vietnam 2009). This means there were 32 people killed and 22 people
injured because of vehicle traffic accidents every day. Though transport holds an important role in
modern life, it also leads to the increasing number of traffic jam, traffic accidents with serious
consequences such as human deaths, injuries and other material toll. As such, traffic accidents require
every person’s attention and consideration. There are several negative reasons causing the accident,
which are drinking alcohol before driving, fake license malady, financial pressure, and lack of proper
education.

The situation in which people purchase the driving license is also not rare. Indeed, some people believe
that purchasing a license is much simpler and easier than taking the test to gain a legal license.
Unfortunately, driving with a purchased license and without a truly driving capability can lead to a
painful consequence. This is also a serious issue and requires Government’s involvement. According to a
research by Vietnam Transport Deputy, out of 858 driving licenses, there are nearly 540 licenses are
identified as fake ones. (Alcohol Consumption When Driving: Playing with the Death, 2009)
In another aspect, when a person is not educated well, he or she can break the law or regulation quite
easily. If someone is educated to be self-responsible, he or she will drive carefully in order to protect not
only himself or herself, but also other people. In actual, there is a case in which taxi driver did not stop
and insisted on running despite red signal of traffic light; and the outcome is that one little girl was
seriously injured (Nhon, 2010). In this case, the accident will absolutely affect the taxi driver’s future
career, yet more importantly, the little girl who was the victim in the accident, would need to endure
the serious damage both physically and mentally for life. Trucks, bus, and taxi are being used more in
Vietnam because of the increasing needs of goods transportation as well as human communication.
Unfortunately, having driving as their living-earning job, majority of these transports’ drivers do not
obtain good education and therefore, will likely to easily break the traffic regulations, drive carelessly
and cause accidents as a result. Yet, noticeably, the bad result will not just happen to the doer but other
innocent victims will suffer as well.

Besides, earning a living to take care of a whole family is evidently an uneasy job. To get more revenue
or income, these drivers are willing to take many driving shifts. However, their efforts will not always
pay off, these sometimes can turn out to be tragic accidents due to health issues caused by overload
working schedule. To the drivers who have their family relying on his or her driving income, there are
even more problems than the low education factor alone. Typically, the recent case in which the truck
driver ran over the victim three times and caused her eventual death has flamed up the frustration and
concern of a great number of Vietnamese people about human ethics in action, and more particularly, in
driving (Mai, 2010). The public anger became more serious when there were claims that the truck driver
decided to run over her three times till death simply because he did not want to bear a financial burden
of taking care of the patient for the rest years of his life. That a person who negligently drives and causes
accident is already a serious problem, but more seriously, that a person who causes an accident and
intentionally kills the victim is a much more serious problem. This is no longer a problem of an individual
driver; instead, everybody should pay attention to it by finding a solution to solve the problem or at
least improve the situation.

On the other hand, irrelevant to high education or family’s financial circumstance, a high-educated
person with alcohol consumption will similarly cause accident as easily as other low-educated driver. In
fact, accidents relating to alcohol-consumption before driving are the most popular cases happening in
Vietnam (Minh, 2009). Specifically, 62% of patients in vehicle accidents occur in Vietnam are claimed to
have blood alcohol content and half of them are diagnosed to endure the brain damage as a result of
the accident (Alcohol Consumption When Driving: Playing with the Death, 2009). Understandably, a
drunk person can hardly control his or her own actions in a proper way, let alone control a vehicle.
Reported recently by VnExpress, a four-wheeled expensive car controlled by a drunk driver hit two
bicycles, three motorbikes, and another car. Similar to accidents caused by other reasons, the damage
will go to not only the culprit but also other innocent victims. To get the situation to be under control,
Vietnam Government has attempted to reinforce the penalties applied to alcohol-related accidents such
as increasing the fine, suspending driving licenses, or even immobilizing the vehicles.

Nevertheless, it is untrue to state that all traffic accidents were caused by the driver’s faults. Indeed,
there are some external influential factors such as car production’s faults, unexpected obstacles or the
passenger’s faults. The recent Toyota’s millions of defected car recall in Europe is a typical example
(Booth & Teather, 2010). On the other hand, Vietnamese Government has also deployed several plans
to improve infrastructures and added some traffic law and regulations such as stricter penalties,
especially in highly-densed traffics in big cities (Hung, 2010) in attempt to decrease the traffic
infringement cases as well as traffic accidents occurred.

In short, education, financial problems, fake licenses and the like are serious issues and cannot be
improved overnight. This requires Government and everyone’s continuous efforts to ameliorate the
transportation situation in Vietnam. Nonetheless, there are some improvable solutions can be made and
practically put into action. First of all, by obtaining sponsorship from car companies, driving-ethics hand-
books including some driving instructions and tips presented in brief sentences and vivid images will be
handed to car companies’ customers and public to convey the message meaning. Additionally, since
some companies have “try driving” programs for customers, a short but informative and meaningful
ethics-in-driving lesson will be free offered to them as well.

Secondly, Mai Linh Taxi Group will be invited to cooperate in the program. In other words, the company
will organize driving-ethics lessons for all Mai Linh drivers in its major markets such as HCM City and
Hanoi. This session will be held once per week and continuously until all of Mai Linh drivers have the
opportunity to attend. Later on, the review session will be held annually. Despite the cost of these
activities and some potential dissatisfaction from unwilling drivers, the program can bring about major
benefits to the company in both short-term and long-term perspectives. More specifically, the company
will create a good image in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility in public’s perspective. This may
further lead to an outcome that more and more customers will trust in using Mai Linh taxi services and
this also increases Mai Linh’s revenue in the end, as a result.
Lastly, “Ethics-in-driving” lessons should be a compulsory session for everyone who would like to gain a
driving license. Since this will involve Government’s decision on changing the way for the driver to gain
the license, the process will be time-consuming yet worth having a try as It is very important to not only
let the about-to-be-drivers know the laws well but also create the opportunities for them to learn and
become a responsible driver.

In conclusion, the driving ethic is a critical issue in Vietnam which causes many serious problems such as
death, injuries and other material toll. Therefore, it requires everybody’s attention, responsibility and
support attitudes to participate in. A modern and civilized society is not just about the wealthiness of a
country but also the people’s attitudes and responsibility towards community’s betterment.
References:

“Alcohol Consumption When Driving: Playing with the Death” 2009, Xa Luan, posted 10 Mar,
viewed 9 May 2010, <http://xaluan.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=143386>.

Booth, R. & Teather, D. 2010, “Faulty pedals and millions of cars recalled: Toyota's
reputation accelerates into trouble”, guardian, posted 2 Feb, viewed 13 may 2010,
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/feb/02/faulty-cars-recalled-toyota-
reputation>.

Hung, Q. 2010, “HCM City to impose heavier fines on traffic infringements”, Sai Gon Giai Phong,
posted 9 May, viewed 12 May 2010, <http://www.saigon-
gpdaily.com.vn/Hochiminhcity/2010/5/81890/>.

Mai, V. 2010, “A Driver truck driver ran over the victim three times is punished 8 obtuse year ”
24 Mar, viewed 10 May 2010, <http://vnexpress.net/GL/Phap-luat/2010/03/3BA1A0D8/>.

Minh, H. 2009 “What are punishments for Driking Driver?”, Tuoi Tre Online, posted 20 Jan,
viewed 10 May 2010,
<http://chuyentrang.tuoitre.vn/Thethao/Index.aspx?ArticleID=298497&ChannelID=6>.

Nhon, A. 2010, “A taxi driver did not stop when red signal of traffic light - one little girl was
seriously injured”, Vnexpress, posted 12 Mar, viewed 10 May 2010,
<http://vnexpress.net/GL/Xa-hoi/2010/03/3BA199B4/>.