They will be based on the latest German guidelines for traffic signals, though with variations to suit local conditions, the team told a seminar held September 29 in HCM City. 

Do Quoc Cuong of the University of Transport and Communications' Road and Traffic Engineering, said the congestion and accidents that often occurr at intersections are due to poor road safety signals. 

The current signal system causes a chaotic build-up of buses, cars, motorbikes, and bicycles at red lights, he said. 

In HCM City, there are 628 signals, 524 of them using a countdown system. 

Dr Khuat Viet Hung, head of the Vietnamese – German Transport Research Centre, said the research, being done by the Vietnamese - German University, University of Transport and Communications, and Germany's Darmstadt University of Technology, will be finished in a year's time and the result submitted to the Ministry of Transport. 

A new national standard for road traffic signals will be piloted in Hanoi and HCM City before nationwide application.