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The police in Ho Chi Minh, the most populous city in Vietnam, no longer have space to put the scooters they have seized. For some years in the country the rules on driving while intoxicated have become very very strict, and to get back scooters seized for this reason you have to pay a very heavy fine, in some cases higher than the price of a new scooter: for this reason some people choose to abandon their vehicles in police depots.
In Vietnam, being found driving with even minimal percentages of alcohol in your blood leads to the detention of the vehicle you were driving for up to 7 days and the suspension of your license for several months, as well as a fine ranging from 2 to 8 million Vietnamese dong. that is, from around 75 to 305 euros, depending on the concentration of alcohol in the blood. A new motorbike often costs around 4.8 million dong, i.e. 180 euros: less than the fines for the most serious violations. The average monthly salary in Vietnam and about 8 million dong for men and 6 for women.
Excessive alcohol consumption has long been very common in the country, and to some extent still is. However, the new laws on drunk driving have contributed to limiting it and reducing the number of road accidents. Bloomberg he wrote that in January 2020, less than a month after the new laws were introduced, beer sales were down 25 percent. Ho Chi Minh City police said in 2023 they were kidnapped approximately 155 thousand vehicles, 153 thousand of which were mopeds: of the 155 thousand vehicles, 128 thousand were seized for driving while intoxicated.
Another rather common cause for the seizure of a vehicle is failure to comply with safety standards, such as the lack of mirrors and lights, or the absence of valid circulation documents. Many second-hand vehicles circulate on the road, in some cases modified to transport goods: it is quite common that these vehicles are not up to standard or do not have documents, and even in this case buying a new one costs less than paying to get the old one back.
The accumulation of seized vehicles has started to be a problem to manage: the Ho Chi Minh police said they would need another 10 thousand square meters to park all the seized vehicles. Some police stations have started putting them in empty offices. There have been fires in the warehouses several times, and there are fears that there could be explosions. In some cases, people have been spotted wandering around the seized scooters to steal parts.
A street in Ho Chi Minh during rush hour (AP Photo/Karly Domb Sadof)
Some vehicles were put up for sale at auction. The police can do so starting from one year after the conclusion of the legal proceedings for which they were seized, and after a commission has established the price: usually two years pass between the seizure and the auction. The pace of sales is too low to significantly empty police depots.
In many Asian countries, scooters are the most used means of getting around, especially in large cities, due to their lower price than cars. But according to Hue-Tam Jamme, a professor at the University of Arizona heard by New York Timesthe accumulation of mopeds in police depots may also have to do with the declining importance of mopeds in Vietnam’s culture and daily life.
In fact, in the country the improvement of economic conditions in recent years has favored a greater diffusion of cars. However, cars remain a small fraction of the vehicles circulating in Vietnam (in 2020, around 5 percent of families owned one), especially in cities, where you often see cars surrounded by hundreds of scooters.
The rigidity with which the campaign against drunk driving has been implemented has been criticized by some people in Vietnam, despite the fact that openly criticizing the policies of the Communist Party, which governs in an authoritarian manner, is prohibited in the country. Nguyen Khang, a bank employee from Ho Chi Minh heard from New York Timessaid scooters are being held “hostage” by an unnecessarily punitive system.
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