Traffic offender avoided fine by writing 50 lines

A Vietnamese police force let a woman avoid a traffic fine by writing 50 lines promising not to repeat the offence.



Police in the central city of Da Nang imposed the unusual school-style penalty after catching the 20-year-old driving down a one-way street in the wrong direction.



Local police chief Tran Viet Hoa says officers gave the nervous-looking driver the benefit of the doubt after she claimed not to have seen the one-way sign. They told her she could write "I promise not to travel in the wrong direction on a one-way street again" 50 times, or pay a fine.



The woman gratefully accepted the cheaper option, according to Mr Hoa, and immediately got on with the job while perched on the kerbside. Mr Hoa says his department is more concerned with raising public awareness and doing their job in a friendly way than rigidly enforcing the rules, even though fining people is quicker. For first-time offenders, fines can create negative feelings towards the police and are of "low educational value", he said.