Some laws are not effective because they are difficult for the police to enforce. What are the causes of this? What can be done to solve this problem?
Stance: This essay will explore the primary reasons why certain laws are difficult for the police to enforce in practice, using Vietnam's traffic regulations as an illustration, and propose practical measures to address these difficulties.
This answer correctly identifies two causes and two matching solutions and supports them with the same District 7 example as the higher bands, but each idea gets only one sentence of explanation and the vocabulary stays functional rather than precise, e.g. 'do not accept the reason' instead of 'a significant disconnect between legal mandates and public acceptance'.
Some laws are difficult for the police to enforce, and this often makes them ineffective. This essay will look at why this happens, using Vietnam's traffic laws as an example, and suggest some solutions to the problem.
One major cause is that many people do not accept the reason behind certain laws. For example, in Vietnam, people often ignore rules like not riding on the pavement or stopping briefly outside a shop, because they see these actions as harmless rather than truly dangerous, and the police cannot watch every street corner. Another cause is that laws can become outdated as technology and society change quickly. For instance, the rapid growth of app-based motorbike taxis has created new problems with vehicles stopping on the roadside, but older traffic laws do not clearly cover this new situation.
There are two main ways to solve this problem. First, public education campaigns can help people understand why a rule exists, which makes them more willing to follow it instead of just avoiding fines. Second, the government should update laws more quickly to match new situations such as ride-hailing. As an operations supervisor for a retail chain in Ho Chi Minh City, I saw an example of this near one of our stores in District 7. When camera fines for not wearing a helmet were introduced, people complained that the process was unclear. After the police explained the appeal process and sent photo evidence by text message, helmet-wearing at that junction rose from about 70 percent to over 95 percent within a year.
In conclusion, laws are often hard to enforce because people do not accept them and because laws do not keep up with change. Better public education and faster updates to legal rules, along with clear and fair enforcement, can make laws much easier to enforce.
Collocations
Examiner Notes
- TR“This essay will look at why this happens, using Vietnam's traffic laws as an example, and suggest some solutions to the problem.” — The outline names both the cause-and-solution structure and the Vietnam example, meeting the task requirement, though in plainer wording than the higher-band version.
- LR“they see these actions as harmless rather than truly dangerous” — A clear, correct contrast in plain vocabulary; functional but without the more formal register of the 7.5 answer's 'legal mandates and public acceptance'.
- GRA“When camera fines for not wearing a helmet were introduced, people complained that the process was unclear.” — A correctly formed passive voice ('were introduced') in a time clause shows accurate basic grammar, though the sentence is shorter and less layered than the equivalent long sentence at higher bands.
- CC“First, public education campaigns can help people understand why a rule exists, which makes them more willing to follow it instead of just avoiding fines. Second, the government should update laws more quickly” — The simple sequencing words 'First' and 'Second' organise the two solutions clearly, functioning the same way as, but less formally than, 'Firstly'/'Secondly' at band 7.5.
This answer pairs each cause with more precise vocabulary and a tighter 'One key cause / A second cause' framework, and its solutions paragraph builds one long, accurately controlled sentence around the District 7 example instead of the 6.5 answer's two shorter, separate sentences.
The effectiveness of certain laws is often undermined by the practical difficulties police face when trying to enforce them. This essay will examine why this happens, using Vietnam's traffic regulations as an example, before suggesting some practical solutions to strengthen enforcement.
One key cause is a gap between what the law requires and what the public actually accepts. Vietnam's traffic rules illustrate this well: regulations against minor acts such as riding briefly on the pavement or stopping outside a shop for a few minutes are widely ignored because many road users see them as impractical rather than genuinely dangerous, and police cannot realistically monitor every junction in a city with millions of motorbikes. A second cause is that rapid social and technological change can leave laws outdated. The sudden growth of app-based ride-hailing, for example, has created entirely new patterns of roadside stopping that older traffic regulations were never designed to cover, leaving police without a clear basis for enforcement.
Tackling this problem calls for two main solutions. First, sustained public education campaigns can help road users understand the reasoning behind a rule, which builds more genuine compliance than fines alone can achieve. Second, legislative bodies need faster processes for updating outdated rules to match new realities such as ride-hailing. Working as an operations supervisor for a retail chain in Ho Chi Minh City's District 7, I witnessed this directly: when camera-based fines for skipping helmets were introduced nearby, residents initially complained about an unclear appeal process. After the local police published the process online and began sending photo evidence by text before finalising fines, helmet compliance at that junction rose from around 70 percent to over 95 percent within a year.
In conclusion, the difficulty of enforcing certain laws often stems from public resistance and outdated legislation. Overcoming this requires a combination of public education and more adaptable, transparent lawmaking, so that legal frameworks stay relevant to the realities people actually face.
Collocations
Examiner Notes
- TR“This essay will examine why this happens, using Vietnam's traffic regulations as an example, before suggesting some practical solutions to strengthen enforcement.” — The outline sentence adds the specific goal 'to strengthen enforcement', giving a sharper task focus than the 6.5 answer's more general 'suggest some solutions'.
- LR“many road users see them as impractical rather than genuinely dangerous” — The adverb-adjective pairing 'genuinely dangerous' and formal 'impractical' give slightly more precision than the 6.5 answer's plainer 'harmless rather than truly dangerous'.
- GRA“After the local police published the process online and began sending photo evidence by text before finalising fines, helmet compliance at that junction rose from around 70 percent to over 95 percent within a year.” — A fronted time clause with two coordinated verbs ('published...and began') leads into a detailed main clause, showing more sustained complexity than the shorter sentence used at 6.5.
- CC“A second cause is that rapid social and technological change can leave laws outdated.” — The phrase 'A second cause' cohesively signals the second point in the causes section, paralleling 'One key cause' earlier and giving the paragraph a tighter internal structure than the 6.5 answer's looser 'Another cause'.
The 7.5 answer weaves the District 7 helmet-camera example into a single dense sentence covering complaint, response and result, uses the formal collocation 'a significant disconnect between legal mandates and public acceptance', and closes by synthesising both causes into one recommendation rather than listing solutions separately, a level of integration the lower bands break apart.
The efficacy of some legislation is often undermined by the practical difficulties that police forces face when attempting to enforce it on the ground. This essay will examine the root causes of this problem, drawing on Vietnam's traffic regulations as a case in point, before proposing viable solutions to strengthen enforceability.
One primary cause stems from a significant disconnect between legal mandates and public acceptance. Vietnam's traffic laws offer a clear illustration of this: rules against riding on the pavement, running a red light at a quiet junction late at night, or double-parking outside a shop for a couple of minutes are routinely flouted because millions of road users regard them as impractical rather than genuinely dangerous, and traffic police simply cannot station an officer at every intersection in a city with several million motorbikes. Another contributing factor is the rapid pace of technological and societal change, which can render older laws obsolete or create new scenarios that existing legal frameworks were never designed to address. The explosive growth of app-based ride-hailing, for instance, has produced entirely new patterns of kerbside stopping and pick-up congestion that traffic regulations drafted years earlier simply do not cover, leaving officers without a clear legal basis for enforcement.
Addressing these issues requires a multi-pronged approach. Firstly, sustained public education campaigns can help road users understand the reasoning behind a regulation, which cultivates far greater voluntary compliance than fines alone ever could. Secondly, legislative and municipal bodies must adopt more agile processes for reviewing and updating rules to keep pace with contemporary realities such as the growth of ride-hailing. In my experience working as an operations supervisor for a retail chain in Ho Chi Minh City's District 7, the ward around one of our outlets faced a similar challenge two years ago when it introduced camera-based 'phat nguoi' fines for riders skipping helmets or running the red light at a nearby junction. Residents initially complained loudly about opaque appeal procedures and suspected the cameras were merely a revenue tool; however, after the ward police held an open meeting, published the appeal process online, and began sending photo evidence by SMS before finalising any fine, complaints fell sharply and helmet compliance at that junction rose from roughly 70 percent to over 95 percent within a year, demonstrating how transparent communication and a visibly fair process can turn public resistance into cooperation.
In conclusion, the unenforceability of certain laws often arises from public resistance and legislative inertia in the face of fast-changing circumstances. Overcoming these challenges requires fostering public understanding through education and ensuring that legal frameworks, together with the way they are communicated and enforced, remain relevant, transparent and adaptable.
Collocations
Examiner Notes
- TR“This essay will examine the root causes of this problem, drawing on Vietnam's traffic regulations as a case in point, before proposing viable solutions to strengthen enforceability.” — The outline sentence explicitly names both the causes-and-solutions structure and the Vietnam case study, directly answering the task.
- LR“a significant disconnect between legal mandates and public acceptance” — Precise, formal collocation appropriate to a discussion of law and public policy.
- GRA“The explosive growth of app-based ride-hailing, for instance, has produced entirely new patterns of kerbside stopping and pick-up congestion that traffic regulations drafted years earlier simply do not cover, leaving officers without a clear legal basis for enforcement.” — A relative clause ('that traffic regulations...do not cover') combines with a trailing participial clause to build one controlled, information-dense sentence.
- CC“Firstly, sustained public education campaigns can help road users understand the reasoning behind a regulation, which cultivates far greater voluntary compliance than fines alone ever could. Secondly, legislative and municipal bodies must adopt more agile processes” — Sequencing markers 'Firstly' and 'Secondly' clearly organise the two-part solution being proposed in this paragraph.
- TR“Overcoming these challenges requires fostering public understanding through education and ensuring that legal frameworks, together with the way they are communicated and enforced, remain relevant, transparent and adaptable.” — The conclusion synthesises both causes discussed in the body into a single, decisive recommendation.