Does a 5-seater car carrying more than 1 person in excess of the prescribed number violate traffic laws? If a 5-seater car carries passengers exceeding permissible amount in Vietnam, is it required to take any remedial measures?

Main Content

• Does a 5-seater car carrying more than 1 person in excess of the prescribed number violate traffic laws?
• If a 5-seater car carries passengers exceeding permissible amount in Vietnam, is it required to take any remedial measures?
• If a 5-seater car carries passengers exceeding permissible amount, will the vehicle be temporarily impounded?

Does a 5-seater car carrying more than 1 person in excess of the prescribed number violate traffic laws?

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 23 of Decree 100/2019/ND-CP of Vietnam, one phrase is replaced by Point o, Clause 34, Article 2 of Decree 123/2021/ND-CP of Vietnam, as follows:

“Article 23. Penalties imposed upon operators of civil and commercial passenger automobiles, and similar automobiles violating road traffic regulations

1. A fine ranging from VND 100,000 to VND 200,000 shall be imposed for:

a) Failure to instruct passengers to stand, sit, or lie in place;

b) Failure to wear uniform and the driver’s name tag.

2. A fine ranging from VND 400,000 to VND 600,000 shall be imposed upon the operator of a passenger vehicle (except for buses) for each passenger carried beyond the following permissible limits: 02 or more excess passengers on a 9 seater vehicle or smaller, 03 or more excess passengers on a 10 - 15 seater vehicle; 04 or more excess passengers on a 16 - 30 seater vehicle; 05 or more excess passengers on a vehicle with more than 30 seats, except for the violations mentioned in Clause 4 of this Article. Nevertheless, the total fine incurred by such operator shall not exceed VND 75,000,000.

3. A fine ranging from VND 600,000 to VND 800,000 shall be imposed for:

a) Leaving the door open while the vehicle is running;

b) Allowing the passengers to stay in the vehicle while the vehicle is entering or leaving a barge or a floating bridge (except for weak and old people, the disabled, and sick people);

c) Failure to stick to the prescribed route;

d) Allowing passengers to lie on hammocks in the vehicle or hang from the vehicle while it is running;

dd) Stacking luggage and goods unsafely; dropping luggage or goods from the vehicle; placing goods in the passenger cabin;

…”

According to the regulations, penalties will be imposed on the case of "carrying 02 or more excess passengers on a 9 seater vehicle"; Your vehicle is a 5-seater car, carrying 1 more person (a child) will not be penalized for administrative violations. In addition, in fact, the case of children under 6 years old who have to sit on the lap of adults to ensure safety will not be punished.

A 5-seater car

If a 5-seater car carries passengers exceeding permissible amount in Vietnam, is it required to take any remedial measures?

Pursuant to the provisions of Clause 9, Article 23 of Decree No. 100/2019/ND-CP of Vietnam stipulating as follows:

“Article 23. Penalties imposed upon operators of civil and commercial passenger automobiles, and similar automobiles violating road traffic regulations

…

9. Apart from the penalties, the violating vehicle operator shall be compelled to:

a) The violation(s) specified in Clause 2 and Clause 4 of this Article (in case of passenger transportation) shall lead to allocation of other vehicles to carry passengers exceeding permissible amount;

b) The violation(s) specified in Point l Clause 3 of this Article (in case of charging beyond the limit) shall lead to return of illegal profit earned from the administrative violation."

Thus, if a operator of a 5-seater car has an act of carrying passengers exceeding permissible amount in Vietnam, it is forced to allocate other vehicles to carry passengers exceeding permissible amount.

If a 5-seater car carries passengers exceeding permissible amount, will the vehicle be temporarily impounded?

Pursuant to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 82 of Decree 100/2019/ND-CP of Vietnam, as amended by Point a, Clause 32, Article 2 of Decree 123/2021/ND-CP of Vietnam, as follows:

“Article 82. Impounding vehicles and papers related to operators and vehicles at fault

1. Pursuant to clauses 2 and 8 Article 125 of the Law on Penalties for Administrative Violations (amended in 2020), to immediately stop the violation, the person entitled to impose penalties is allowed to impound the vehicle before issuing a decision on to impose penalties for the offences specified in the following Articles, clauses and points of this Decree:

a) Point c clause 6; points a and c clause 8; clause 10 of Article 5;

b) Points b and c clause 6; point c clause 7; points a, b, c, d, e, g, h and i clause 8; clause 9 of Article 6;

c) Point c clause 6; point b clause 7; points a and b clause 8; clause 5 of Article 7;

d) Point q clause 1; point e clause 3; punts a, c, d and dd (if the violating vehicle operator is under 16 years of age), point g (if the violating vehicle operator is under 16 years of age) clause 4 of Article 8;

dd) Clause 9 of Article 11;

c) Points a and b clause 4; clause 5; points a, b and c clause 6 of Article 16;

g) Points a, b and c clause 2 of Article 17;

h) Points b and dd clause 1; points c, d, dd and e clause 2 of Article 19;

i) Clause 1; point a clause 4; clause 5; clause 6; clause 7; clause 8; clause 9 of Article 21;

k) Points dd, g, h and k clause 5; points b, e and h clause 8; points c and i clause 9; point b clause 10 of Article 30;

l) Point b clause 5 of Article 33.”

Thus, according to the above regulations, 5-seater cars carrying more than the prescribed number of passengers will not be impounded.