HCM City gives walkers a break   Street vendors encroach on a roadway for business in Street 3, Thu Duc District, HCM City. The city has ordered district authorities to deal "thoroughly" with those using pavements and roads to do business. - VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Phan HCM CITY (VNS)- Nguyen Huu Tin, deputy chairman of the HCM City People's Committee, has ordered district authorities to deal "thoroughly" with the illegal use of pavements and roads for doing business. Speaking at a recent meeting, Tin said the task of re-establishing order on pavements and roads had not shown the desired results after one year of implementation. Districts had committed to the municipal People's Committee that they would restore and maintain order on 159 roads, and this had been done well, the meeting heard. However, the illegal use of pavements and roadways for doing business, parking vehicles and setting up temporary markets was still widespread on many other roads. The illegal use of pavements and roadways is the main reason for traffic congestions and disorder, participants said at the meeting. The city has 175 temporary markets that illegally use pavements and roadways, according to the municipal Department of Industry and Trade. Such illegal markets are mostly found in Go Vap, Binh Thanh, Thu Duc, Binh Tan, Tan Phu and Binh Chanh districts. District officials said at the meeting that it was difficult to resolve the issue of illegal markets immediately. They said such markets continued to operate despite repeated warnings and fines. Nguyen Ngoc Tuong, deputy head of the city's Traffic Safety Board, said his office has worked with relevant agencies to strengthen awareness of traffic laws and civilised traffic culture among the city's residents. But there were still some population segments where such awareness was still low, he added. In the first eight months of the year, the city recorded 2,795 traffic accidents that left 532 people dead and 2,800 people injured, the Traffic Safety Board reported. This marked a year-on-year reduction of 21 per cent in the number of traffic accidents, 1.3 per cent in fatalities, and 22.6 per cent in the number of injured people. During this period, city traffic police imposed fines in 526,000 traffic violation cases, seized 62,000 driving licenses and 49,000 vehicles of various kinds. About 80 per cent of traffic accidents occurred at night, the board said. Tin ordered traffic police to strengthen inspections of traffic violations, especially speeding and driving on the wrong lane. He said the Department of Transport should work with relevant agencies and install cameras that can record vehicle number plates and their speed at "hot" traffic sites. - VNS