One place where everyone wears a helmet

By The Nation

 

 

Chiang Mai’s Maejo University (MJU) has earned praise as a model educational institute for succeeding in getting all of its motorcycle-riding students to wear safety helmets.

 

MJU Division of Student Affairs director Sukij Tidchai said the school had to confront the cold statistic of an average of 10 students dying yearly in road accidents. Most were riding motorcycles without a helmet. Others died because they ignored other traffic regulations.

 

 

So the university launched a safety campaign that included raising awareness and strictly enforcing traffic regulations. 

 

It imposed four rules. Motorcycle riders not wearing a helmet couldn’t enter the school grounds. Everyone on a motorcycle had to wear a helmet on roads within the campus. Failure to do so resulted in 10 disciplinary points being deducted, and if the score fell 40 points, the student was suspended from classes and disciplinary punishment was initiated.

 

 

The campaign ended up boosting helmet use from 30 per cent in 2012 to 100 per cent last year.

 

In 2012 there were 11 road-accident deaths and 694 injuries among students and school personnel. Last year there were three deaths and 54 injuries, Sukij said. 

 

The success prompted the university to expand the campaign to neighbouring communities, he added.

 

Rungrawin Kengkaj and Teerachai Yenjai, both freshmen in the Faculty of Agricultural Production, said they welcomed the helmet rules because they improved safety and were easy enough to abide by. 

 

“Once you make it a habit, you just automatically do it, not only around the campus but outside as well,” Rungrawin said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30359250

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-11-26

Fair play to the university for facing the cold hard facts that are mirrored all over this country and winning. 3 deaths last year versus 10+ a year in years before is a brilliant achievement that has got to get peoples attention and help make the roads safer.

Top marks to Maejo University but it's shameful that the authorities seem unable to enforce this law countrywide

The road into and out of Maejo Uni. is very fast and some four lanes wide, most bikes come out of the grounds and then drive straight across to the median so they can pull a U-turn to get to the shops/food stalls - access to the Univ from the South is equally as dangerous, bikes have to cross four lanes of fast traffic. If there's going to be an accident in Maejo it will be there and students/staff know that.

39 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

The road into and out of Maejo Uni. is very fast and some four lanes wide, most bikes come out of the grounds and then drive straight across to the median so they can pull a U-turn to get to the shops/food stalls - access to the Univ from the South is equally as dangerous, bikes have to cross four lanes of fast traffic. If there's going to be an accident in Maejo it will be there and students/staff know that.

Don't worry they are helmet protected.

This headline shows really ,how lawless thailand is ,If all laws were properly ,and equally enforced , by those paid to enforce them..we wouldn't be having this conversation,or many many others for that matter...

1 hour ago, Topdoc said:

Top marks to Maejo University but it's shameful that the authorities seem unable to enforce this law countrywide

All the students have the helmets in their front baskets, and pull them off/on as they leave/enter the uni gates.

Well done!

Was taking my son to his friends yesterday and noticed his buddies all turned up helmetless. A boy a one year up at their school died a month ago - no helmet - but seems to have had no effect on them.

If vietnam can get everybody to wear helmets even in rural areas why can't thailand?

This would not be news anywhere else.

The same penalty should apply if they don't have the strap fastened, I lost a good friend a few years back for this reason, the helmet came off during a minor collision and his head hit the sidewalk.

This is not 100% true. I exercise on CMU grounds occasionally and although the security does tend to a great job getting people to wear helmets they do sometimes turn a blind eye and let people in. 

4 minutes ago, ZeVonderBearz said:

This is not 100% true. I exercise on CMU grounds occasionally and although the security does tend to a great job getting people to wear helmets they do sometimes turn a blind eye and let people in. 

MJU, not CMU!

My niece attends Mae Fah Luang in Chiang Rai, and they also have a very strict helmet policy.

 

Should be done in all schools and universities,

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

All the students have the helmets in their front baskets, and pull them off/on as they leave/enter the uni gates.

Read the  article again they must wear their helmets whilst in the grounds or face demerit points.    It's a shame that parents can't do the same with their errant children ie: wear the helmet or lose the bike my Buddha what a change that would make to the road toll

“One place where everyone wears helmet”

the man in 3th pic no wear helmet.????

 

This guy might as well be wearing a paper hat.

 

2 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Well done!

Was taking my son to his friends yesterday and noticed his buddies all turned up helmetless. A boy a one year up at their school died a month ago - no helmet - but seems to have had no effect on them.

If vietnam can get everybody to wear helmets even in rural areas why can't thailand?

Thai mindset is in "no learning" mode and will be forever

2 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Well done!

Was taking my son to his friends yesterday and noticed his buddies all turned up helmetless. A boy a one year up at their school died a month ago - no helmet - but seems to have had no effect on them.

If vietnam can get everybody to wear helmets even in rural areas why can't thailand?

Easy answer... and we all know it already

Police are too lazy to enforce the law... it's easier and more profitable to take a fine each day !!

All it would take would be a concerted and sincere effort on the part of the authorities and teachers nationwide, to convince the youth of the importance to protecting the head. The head just does not do well, when hitting asphalt, concrete, or a metal object at speed. The skull is a rather delicate thing, and the brain is something we need on a day to day basis.

 

Getting on a scooter, or a motorcycle anywhere in Thailand, much less Phuket, Phangan, Dark Tao, or Samui without a very good helmet, is like playing Russian Roulette with three or four bullets in the chamber. It is absolutely asking for problems. The degree of recklessness here is astounding. And many foreigners come here thinking "how much trouble could I get in on a little scooter, on a tropical island"? Well, the answer is alot. The amount of foreigners who are killed on the Southern islands is staggering. Most are not reported in the media. I had a friend who worked for Samui rescue for many years, and said the numbers were about 30 a month, on Samui, Phangan and Koh Tao. The official number is about 3 a month. Rider beware. Use as good a helmet as you can afford, and do not use these eggshells pieces of crap. They crack at the first impact, and what lies underneath them? Your skull, which is very delicate. 
 
Just ask yourself- do I have enough problems already, without a broken skull, or smashed head, or face injury, or lost eye? I have two friends who have been in motorbike accidents on Samui within the last two years. One still cannot walk, or talk or function on her own, from a motorbike accident, where she hit her head on the pavement going only 20 kph. The other one has lost alot of his mental capacity after hitting his head. He insisted for years he would never wear a helmet. Now, he seems 15 years older. 

 

On Samui, up to 30 people a month, are killed on the roads. The majority being on motorbikes, and the majority of those not wearing a helmet. The press here is highly censored. The report only what the so called leaders want them to report. Nothing else. Social media? Why would social media report these statistics? They report individual accidents, but not overall statistics. Anything you read about accidents on Samui in the media would be false. Thailand has the highest number of fatalities in the world, and there is no doubt Samui has the highest within Thailand. The hospitals there are a cottage industry. 

 

I noticed that motorbike riders in Chiang Mai always follow traffic light rules and stop during red lights. Is it the only place in Thailand where motorbikes actually follow traffic rules?

Pointless excercise at a University when primary school kids are allowed to ride motorbikes to school 

8 hours ago, webfact said:

So the university launched a safety campaign that included raising awareness and strictly enforcing traffic regulations. 

 

It imposed four rules. Motorcycle riders not wearing a helmet couldn’t enter the school grounds. Everyone on a motorcycle had to wear a helmet on roads within the campus. Failure to do so resulted in 10 disciplinary points being deducted, and if the score fell 40 points, the student was suspended from classes and disciplinary punishment was initiated.

Isn't this fantastic A Uni can do what a Government Can't. Get the Uni to run the country, we might get somewhere.   

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

All the students have the helmets in their front baskets, and pull them off/on as they leave/enter the uni gates.

You can "prove" this, or are you assuming. Photos/videos would be nice.

6 hours ago, BritManToo said:

All the students have the helmets in their front baskets, and pull them off/on as they leave/enter the uni gates.

I expect you have proof of that, like a hidden-camera video?

Can we also assume they all have a license?

4 hours ago, shady86 said:

I noticed that motorbike riders in Chiang Mai always follow traffic light rules and stop during red lights. Is it the only place in Thailand where motorbikes actually follow traffic rules?

You noticed that, too, huh?  When I first came to Chiang Mai 10 years ago, if there were 10 motorbikes at a stoplight, maybe 2 people were wearing helmets.  Now?  Just the opposite.  Maybe 2 out of 10 NOT wearing helmets.  I'm not aware of any concerted effort to enforce the law, so maybe the Lanna Thai in Chiang Mai are just smarter than the rest. lol

 

Helmets or not, the boy-racers will still kill themselves, eventually!  At least with a helmet, they've a better chance of being identified before the body-bag is zipped-up.

The difference in Vietnam is that it is a Communist country with a population used to being regulated by a police Force used to being obeyed, controlled by a strong government. None of those factors apply in Thailand.

The real test would be what would happen if now nobody would enforce the rules anymore.

Would riders who used helmets every day continue like that?

Or would many of them stop using helmets?

 

I guess it's better not to try this. I am afraid it would confirm what many of us think about Thais.