Vietnam highway overtaking safety

A viral video of a Mercedes executing a reckless overtaking maneuver on a Vietnamese highway sparked public concern after it caused a multi‑vehicle collision. Safety experts used the incident to stress proactive lane discipline: overtake only when a safe gap exists, keep a flexible position in the middle lane, and yield when needed to avoid chain crashes.

Following the crash, Vietnam’s Traffic Police Department and the Roads Authority announced a joint study of a dedicated overtaking lane on expressways. On 27 July 2026 they proposed a lane adjacent to the median barrier for passing slower trucks or buses, with drivers required to return promptly to the regular lane and prohibited from continuous travel in the overtaking lane. Certain routes, such as the Pháp Vân‑Cao Bồ expressway, may ban heavy vehicles from using the lane.

A briefing on 30 July 2026 highlighted that left‑hand overtaking reduces blind‑spot exposure compared with right‑hand passes, especially for higher‑seated vehicles, and cited left‑hand overtaking as standard in most right‑hand‑drive countries.

The same day, the Traffic Police detailed the design of the median overtaking lane: it will be the leftmost lane on multi‑lane highways, usable only for a single overtaking maneuver before drivers must merge back. Enforcement will rely on highway surveillance cameras and driver‑recording devices to detect vehicles that remain in the lane beyond a pass. A pilot will be run on a suitable northern highway with at least two to three lanes before nationwide rollout, with exceptions only for emergencies or force‑majeure events.