When a traffic officer signals, the signal is binding. Under the road-law framework, road users must comply with the commands of traffic controllers, and a stop signal from Cảnh sát giao thông (traffic police) starts a procedure with defined steps — running from it is a separate, graver violation.

The stop, in practice

An officer signals with a baton or hand; you reduce speed and stop where directed — not wherever convenient. Officers work checkpoints in teams, and one usually signals while another checks documents. Breathalyser testing at checkpoints is routine and mandatory when requested; refusing it is its own violation.

Documents

Produce what the law requires riders to carry: licence, vehicle registration certificate, compulsory insurance certificate. Not carrying a required document is a 200,000–300,000 VND fine per missing paper under Article 18 of Decree 168/2024/NĐ-CP — but the checkpoint encounter goes better when the papers exist at all. Foreigners on an IDP carry the permit plus the national licence.

If a fine is issued

Fines are not paid on the spot to the officer. The officer writes a violation record (biên bản) and issues a penalty decision; payment goes to the state treasury — by bank transfer, at a bank, or through the online public-service portal. An officer asking for cash on the spot is operating outside the procedure, and the correct response is to ask for the written decision. The record states the violation, the legal clause, the amount and the payment deadline.

Practical notes for foreign riders

Ask for the violation record even if your Vietnamese is limited — the document carries the numbers. Keep your rental shop’s number; for rental-related matters (registration papers, deposit questions), a call resolves more than argument. If the stop involves an injury accident rather than an administrative violation, the procedure changes: stop, protect the scene, help, report.

What not to do

Do not ride off from a checkpoint: failure to comply with the stop signal is a separate violation, and flight escalates the encounter. Do not hand over your passport as collateral for a fine — the procedure has no such step.

Information, not legal advice. Verified against the Traffic Police Department’s published guidance and Law 36/2024/QH15 on 2026-09-22.