Report Expat Confusion Grows as Thailand Cracks Down on Helmet Law Violations

[newbee2022]

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

Ever noticed a crackdown longer than a few days?? There have been several crackdowns on black smoke cars and drive around and see... I see everyday at least 4 to 6 cars/trucks with heavy blacksmoke.... And if really this crackdown would last forever , the RTP will get a burnout with so much work as Thais won't do it unless heavy fined and that is what the RTP will not to to their own people

Bit by bit. Not on one day only. 

Starting with the helmet issue nationwide. Then the double-decker buses maybe and then the old trucks. Step by step. Don't be impatient. To fine you with 2000/4000 Baht if they catch you without helmet there is a good start. Don't you think so?

[ujayujay]

A 2,000 baht fine would be a step forward, instead of the current paltry 400 baht! Not wearing a helmet = insurance companies won't pay out in the event of an accident due to negligence. That would be the best solution. Anyone who doesn't wear a helmet should also face the consequences!

[VBF]

2 hours ago, Espanol said:

 

You can use your baseball cap under motorcycle taxi's helmet.

 

Which is exactly what I used to do....then I discovered Bolt and now ride in comfort and (hopefully) a little more safety.

I always hated motorbikes anyway!

[Aatsi]

A motorcycle is a motorcycle if it is registered as a motorcycle, right? If you attach a sidecar to it, does it turn into a car? Well, no, it is still a motorcycle, just like motorcycles with 2 front wheels or what are they, if not motorcycles, can't you read it on the vehicle registration document "Laisapap Thabian Rot (สินที่รถ)". Is a TukTuk a car or a motorcycle? Doesn't the helmet issue specifically apply to all motorcycles regardless of the number of wheels. It's up to each individual whether they wear a helmet out of fear of the police and a fine, or voluntarily for their own safety. Amazing Thailand.

[johng]

8 minutes ago, Aatsi said:

A motorcycle is a motorcycle if it is registered as a motorcycle, right? If you attach a sidecar to it, does it turn into a car?

 

I believe that you can register a motorcycle  with a sidecar attachment   or 3 wheeler

when the motorcycle is first registered at the DLT...but after that first ( virgin ) registration it is somehow not possible  ( well maybe with a lot of tea money ? ) to attach a side car to an already registered  motorcycle ?

[NanLaew]

11 hours ago, impulse said:

 

What if you have 90% chance of getting nits and cooties vs 1 in a million chance of getting a splattered brain? 

 

Then, what do you do with the helmet when you're not on the scooter taxi?  Do you carry it around all day?

 

I wore one when I was scooter taxiing between home and office because I had a place to put it on both ends.  But not going point A to point B where I had no place to store a decent (spelled e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e) helmet.  And the plastic crap on offer are less than useless.

 

 

As I already suggested, it's your brain. Use it or lose it.

 

PS: I haven't checked on lazada but, maybe you have a clue, how e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e is a brain?

[metisdead]

A post using ALL CAPS has been removed, please turn off your Caps Lock when posting.

[NanLaew]

10 hours ago, Gandtee said:

I used to ride a motorcycle combination (motorbike with sidecar) with the wife and three kids, in England, before helmets became mandatory. It was considered to be one of the safest modes of transport by the insurance companies. The problem is that many here do not have lights at night, and the riders seem oblivious to other traffic.

 

Good grief! You remember the early 50's in the UK just like it was yesterday.

[pierrenoel]

side car are illegal in thailand,but police dont care because poors peoples need it for travel and business 

[kaneko86]

The wear a helmet law clearly applies only to foreigners. Just look around while driving motorbike and you will notice... 

[JAG]

10 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Off topic, I know... 

 

Here's some eye candy from the Vintage Vespa shop on the river in Bangkok's Chinatown.

 

 

In the immortal words of Jody Foster in Nell.  "Want"

 

Very smart!

 

But you can bet your bottom dollar that if, as a farang, you drove around in it, the Police would suddenly find umpteen infringements of all sorts of regulations, and fine you multiples of B500!

[kickstart]

12 hours ago, NE1 said:

Bloody Salengs are everywhere in our district. 

Some have plastic chairs on them where a passenger sits , others have the whole family on them.

At the moment the roads are getting resurfaced in a couple of areas and the roads are narrow , which means you could follow one of these for 5 klms or more.

They are a dangerous mode of transport.

Why are they dangerous?? Back in the day in the UK, if you had a sidecar on your bike, you would get cheaper insurance, as insurance companies consider sidecars safer than solo motorcycles.

If you are a Thai with a family, you could well have a sidecar. They are cheap, you can buy a new one for 6000 baht with a roof on, or a second-hand one from 1500 baht.

The wife has one and uses a crash helmet all the time.

Having been riding motorcycles for 50 years now, I often use a sidecar, I feel a lot safer on one than on a solo motorcycle.

The problem is Farangs see them, nearly all are made locally, local bike shops made the wife's, using whatever is available, in their eyes they do not look like our side cars, ie Watsonian from the Uk  , they are no good, they work, that is all that counts . 

[Gandtee]

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

 

Good grief! You remember the early 50's in the UK just like it was yesterday.

Yes. And well before. But don't ask me about what I did last week. Ninety-one. Old age. I'm not looking forward to it.😉

[Gandtee]

12 minutes ago, kickstart said:

Why are they dangerous?? Back in the day in the UK, if you had a sidecar on your bike, you would get cheaper insurance, as insurance companies consider sidecars safer than solo motorcycles.

If you are a Thai with a family, you could well have a sidecar. They are cheap, you can buy a new one for 6000 baht with a roof on, or a second-hand one from 1500 baht.

The wife has one and uses a crash helmet all the time.

Having been riding motorcycles for 50 years now, I often use a sidecar, I feel a lot safer on one than on a solo motorcycle.

The problem is Farangs see them, nearly all are made locally, local bike shops made the wife's, using whatever is available, in their eyes they do not look like our side cars, ie Watsonian from the Uk  , they are no good, they work, that is all that counts . 

But make sure the rear lights work as well as the headlights.

[NE1]

12 minutes ago, kickstart said:

they are no good, they work, that is all that counts . 

 

But that doesn't make them safe does it.

[josephbloggs]

12 hours ago, Lucky Bones said:

Seen people wearing KFC buckets. Didn't get stopped & likely didn't go hungry.🙃🙃

Course you have.

[JAG]

10 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

Course you have.

For several years there was a chap who used to hurtle around Chiang Rai City wearing a plastic child's "fireman Sam" helmet, held in place by a bungee cord.

[kwilco]

5 hours ago, VBF said:

Given that the stupid behaviour of some motorists will continue,

that describes all motorists worldwide - road safety is designed to protect us.

Thailand is unusual in having 80% of fatalities attributed to vulnerable road users, in particular motorbike riders and passengers. So that's about 16000 per annum and about 40% of them could be saved by wearing a helmet -  In theory, if the law is enforced it could be a hugely significant reduction in road deaths of 6400 per year. Of course there is already a percentage of helmet wearing so the figure wouldn't actually be that big, but the potential is there to make a huge difference.

[Ctkong]

15 hours ago, smedly said:

motorbike taxi's are an issue, helmets are an issue due to the quality and cleanliness

 

Bring your own then . Missus brought her own helmet when traveling overseas because of reasons stated above.

[Ctkong]

Wearing helmet is to provide road safety for you and not wearing one is on you if you ever get involved in an accident. Thus to the Thais, it is the usual ‘up to you’ philosophy. Your life your choice . 

[kwilco]

52 minutes ago, Ctkong said:

Thus to the Thais, it is the usual ‘up to you’ philosophy. Y

just hiding your ignorance with cynicism

[Jonathan Swift]

16 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

and how about the RTP themselves?? I see many driving a motorcycle with a baseball cap or another kind of cap... and clear again fines up to 2000 THB.. That will be for foreigners and Thais 300??? and how long will this crack down last?? 1 week?

I would give it two weeks.

[Jonathan Swift]

16 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

Not sure why expats are confused. Just wear a helmet, simple as that. 

Agreed. Simple. But the question still exists for motorbike taxi passengers.

[nakhonandy]

The old fine would have been adequate if actually enforced.

I think this is an excellent action and I hope they really enforce and do so indefinitely. 

[shdmn]

I would have no problem with this if they did it for everyone instead of mostly to just fleece tourists.  I would also like to see them handing out 2k baht fines for bikes with illegal exhaust pipes while they are at it.

[richard_smith237]

10 minutes ago, shdmn said:

I would have no problem with this if they did it for everyone instead of mostly to just fleece tourists.  I would also like to see them handing out 2k baht fines for bikes with illegal exhaust pipes while they are at it.

 

I completely agree. In areas with heavy tourist traffic – or more accurately, a high volume of short-term tourist rentals – the police often take advantage of the situation, targeting easy pickings and fleecing tourists. Of course, some will argue that it’s the tourists’ own fault for not having the proper licences or for failing to wear helmets, and technically, they’re right. But that entirely misses the broader point.

 

The real issue lies in the inconsistency of enforcement. The laws themselves are perfectly adequate, but they’re applied sporadically, often not at all. When action is taken, it’s typically for show – a brief, performative crackdown aimed at generating a media headline rather than bringing about lasting change.

 

For any meaningful improvement, enforcement needs to be national, consistent, and year-round. Unfortunately, that seems like far too much effort for a system led by people who simply don’t take these issues seriously enough.

[rattlesnake]

19 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

and how about the RTP themselves?? I see many driving a motorcycle with a baseball cap or another kind of cap... and clear again fines up to 2000 THB.. That will be for foreigners and Thais 300??? and how long will this crack down last?? 1 week?

 

Incorrect in my experience, the vast majority of them wear helmets.

 

This is a great initiative, the mere fact that it is even mentioned/considered is a step forward. It will take a while to come to fruition but as long there is a will, there will be results. Already much more Thais wear helmets now than when I moved here in 2009.

 

And yes, of course sidecar riders should wear a helmet.

[rattlesnake]

9 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Its getting a little better and most of the helmets I see offer some nominal protection, which at the speeds were talking about could be the difference between a 'brain injury'...  and not...  i.e. those index helmets etc.

 

BUT - the plastic Big-C things... Nope, they're useless... Any passenger has an option just to say no, they want a proper helmet and I think thats fair enough.

 

A guy on this forum (I forget who) once told me he had an accident with an Index helmet, with contact to the head which would have definitely seriously injured or killed him if he hadn't been wearing it. He was unscathed, so yeah, they're definitely okay, I owned a couple myself in the past.

 

ID is fine too, in the 1-2k baht range.

[StandardIssue]

19 hours ago, smedly said:

motorbike taxi's are an issue, helmets are an issue due to the quality and cleanliness

 

 

Quality and Cleanliness? How about EXISTENCE of Helmets provided by Motorbike taxi's.

 

In Bangkok, you'll rarely see a motorbike taxi offering a helmet to passengers.

[DarthChuckler]

Nothing to do with sidebars,  when the start enforcing it for Thai and farang ill believe it. Got a ticket once, 'Bout 4 of us farang paying our tax, while local riders where whizzung past air in the hair.