The assurance of traffic safety is a regular and top-priority task for all party committees and commanders of the armed forces in general, for the strategic transport units under the Transport Department of the General Logistics Department in particular.
In the process of implementing the task, besides mainly favorable conditions, there remain difficulties, including a large amount of cargoes with various types, such as flammable and explosive ones; groups of soldiers operating independently, and diversified terrains, climate, roads, etc. Meanwhile, although the equipment and facilities of the units have been upgraded, most of them have been in operation for a long time and become asynchronous; the drivers’ and technicians’ skills and professional competence are unequal.
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| Sr. Col. Tran Van Lieu inspecting the technical work of the Transport Battalion 32 under the Logistics Department of the Army Corps 2 |
Against that backdrop, the Department’s Party Committee and command have set out and synchronously implemented the measures for ensuring traffic safety and achieving the comprehensive and relatively stable outcomes. The leadership capacity of the party committees and commanders at all levels has improved while the driving skills and awareness of cadres, technicians, and soldiers towards the studying and observance of the traffic safety regulations have been raised. In all conditions and circumstances, whenever participating in traffic (in formations or by themselves, on road, railway or waterway), they always observe the law, military disciplines, and regulations on traffic safety. They always behave properly, respect and help other people, particularly in the unexpected situations. As a result, they have made contribution to assuring safety for people and vehicles, building a clean and strong Party Organization of the Department and comprehensively strong agencies and units, bolstering the image of "Transport Soldiers - Uncle Ho’s Soldiers" in the new era.
Currently, amidst the requirements for military build-up and Fatherland defence, the Department's task is evolving with new higher requirements. Promoting the recorded achievements, the Department’s Party Committee and command have ordered their units’ Party Committees and commanders to synchronously implement the solutions to ensure traffic safety as follows.
Firstly, regularly and successfully conducting propaganda and education to raise the self-awareness of traffic laws of cadres and soldiers, especially the drivers and technicians. To be effective, units should actively renew content and form of propaganda and education and improve the quality of political and legal education for all troops. Regarding the content, due attention should be paid to grasping the Party’s resolutions, the State laws, the Government’s decrees and the Army’s instructions on ensuring traffic safety, particularly the Directive 18-CT/TW, dated September 4, 2012, by the Party Central Committee's Secretariat on "Strengthening the Party's leadership over the work of ensuring traffic order and safety on road, railway, and inland waterway and the settlement of traffic congestion ”; the 2008 Law on Road Traffic; Law on Inland Waterway Traffic; Law on International Maritime Transport; and the Government’s decrees on traffic. In terms of form, importance should be attached to closely linking and promoting the grass-roots cultural institutions, strictly maintaining the regulations on disciplinary and political education, combining scheduled propaganda and education with unscheduled propaganda and education, etc., ensuring that all troops are provided with the planned education program. In addition to promoting and replicating effective forms and models of education, attention should be paid to exploring new forms that are relevant to the reality of operation of units. As a result, all transport officers and soldiers are fully aware of and strictly observe the Party's guidelines and policies, the State’s laws, the Army’s disciplines and their unit’s regulations. They also uphold the spirit of solidarity, proactiveness and creativity to overcome difficulties, achieve a breakthrough in weak points, well implement the motto of "being sufficient, timely, accurate, secret and safe", avoid letting traffic accidents occur, and make the transport culture a good lifestyle of the "Transport Soldiers”.
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| Administrative inspection of vehicles at the Battalion 1, Brigade 649 |
Secondly, continuing to build a contingent of cadres, technicians and drivers to meet the task requirements. Successfully implementing this basic, long-term, and practical solution will directly raise the quality of traffic safety of the units. Therefore, the party committees and commanders at all levels should continue to thoroughly grasp higher echelons’ resolutions and directives, particularly those by the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defence, the General Logistics Department, and the Transport Department.
On the basis of personnel quality review and evaluation and the demand for the quantity and scale of the contingent of cadres, technicians, and drivers, units should submit their proposals to the senior levels on training, re-training, and recruiting their staff in order to contribute to improving the quality of maintaining, repairing and using vehicles, overcoming the shortage of forces, especially in the southern units, creating favorable conditions for the cadres and soldiers to serve and to devote themselves to their units. In the process, emphasis should be placed on complying with the principles, regulations and procedures of the personnel work and successfully implementing the Resolution of the 12th Party Central Committee’s 4th Plenum on the Party building and rectification in association with 12th the Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW on the studying and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality, and lifestyle. Due regard should be paid to building a contingent of cadres, especially commanding officers at all levels with firm political will, good morality, scientific working style, etc., making them dare to think, dare to do, dare to take responsibility, and set really typical examples in "traffic culture" for the masses to follow. At the same time, importance should be attached to improving the quality of on-spot training and retraining, requiring superiors to train inferiors, asking more skillful technicians and drivers to train the less skillful ones, encouraging the spirit of self-study and self-improvement. Consideration should be given to building a clean and healthy military transport environment, strengthening discipline management and standardization building, resolutely repelling bad cultural phenomena, providing sufficient policies, particularly the policy regarding military families for cadres and soldiers within the units.
Thirdly, closely combining and making movements on ensuring traffic safety practical and effective. The focus should be on integrating units’ Determination to Win emulation movements with the campaigns, namely "Promoting tradition, devoting talent, and deserving to be Uncle Ho's soldiers", "Managing and exploiting weapons and equipment in a good, durable, safe, economical manner and traffic safety" and the movements, namely "building regular, safe, effective transport units", "Traffic culture with peaceful waterway". At the same time, due attention should be paid to improving the quality of technical work, conducting reviews, drawing lessons, and rewarding, building and replicating typical models and examples of traffic safety practice, etc. While maintaining strict technical regulations, units should attach importance to organizing competitions and encouraging cadres and soldiers to undertake scientific researches, promote technical initiatives and innovations, and apply scientific and technical achievements to improving the quality and efficiency of transport work and settling difficulties in material and technical support. By doing so, they could raise the awareness and responsibility of cadres and soldiers in preserving, maintaining and using effectively all vehicles and equipment of the units.
For better preservation and maintenance of means of transport and equipment, emphasis should be placed on consolidating garages, ports, moorings, warehouses, workshops, and fire and explosion prevention equipment.
Fourth, strengthening leadership and direction over traffic safety. It is obvious that it is a crucial issue for ensuring traffic safety of transport units. Therefore, party committees, party organizations, commanders, commissars and political commissars at all levels must thoroughly grasp Resolution No. 437-NQ/ĐU by the Department’s Party Committee on "Strengthening legal education and discipline management and ensuring unit’s safety and traffic safety", heighten their responsibility, and keep a close watch on the tasks and the traffic safety situation to lay down sound guidelines and direction. Monthly, quarterly, and yearly, party committees and party organizations at all levels must include the traffic safety practice in their resolutions; the commanders must map out action plans; due regard should be paid to assigning clearly responsibilities of party committee members in charge of traffic safety and considering the results of traffic safety practice a criterion for evaluating, rewarding, and appointing collectives and individuals. At the same time, it is necessary to promote the synergy of organizations, forces and individuals in ensuring traffic safety, strictly conduct the work of inspection, and opportunely take measures to overcome weaknesses.
Successfully implementing the above-mentioned solutions will ensure safety for personnel, means and material in traffic and make contributions to fulfilling the national goal of traffic order and safety, building a clean and strong Party Organization of the Department and a comprehensively strong strategic transport force, deserving the title of "Transport Soldiers - Uncle Ho’s Soldiers" in the new period.
Senior Col. Tran Van Lieu, Commissar of the Department