New Helmet Laws Introduced As Fatality Rate Soars In Thailand

[Brewsta]

SSM,

You are spot on. The day that changes the mentality of the Thai people, their culture and Buddhi belief of 'inevitability', will be the day that Khon Thai can police themselves.

This will leave the BIB et al in peace to finish their sherbets each day................. well, we can dream, eh?

Regards to all,

Brewsta

And kids riding bikes to school? I didn't realise it was legal to cram 3 kids 12 year olds with no helmets onto bikes.

Once again Thailand misses the point of the problem. The government can insist that their employees or school children wear certain coloured shirts on certain days of the week, but enforcing that people wear helmets to and from their place of work is beyond abilities of persuasion.

[housepainter]

It's all about education.

You can't educate Thais in safety. You can't get them to wear them or the Police to enforce the law.

Why stop at helmets? What about riding / driving the wrong way on all roads including two lane highways. Then there's the reversing against the traffic; the cutting across main roads to take a short cut across the verge in the middle; the speeding; the dangerous driving; the lack of signalling; the lack of a driving test; the lack of the application of a driving test; the lack of the need to have passed a driving test.

I mean really where on earth do you beging?

And then as some have mentioned ...... there's the balancing of an entire family of 7 on a motorbike with the baby perched on the handlebars. And no one does a thing about it.

Not one single thing.

They don't need a new law. They need to apply the old law.

And they won't. So ......... next question.

[robert00]

Why the need for helmet wearing zones when it has been law for years that you have to wear a helmet when riding a motorbike?

Whilst on the subject, Motorcyclists should also be required to put light bulbsinto the lamps front and rear.

Here in Chiang Mai half of all motorbikes dont have either front or back or no lights at all and you dont see them until you are right on to them.

I dont know how many times I have missed some of them by inches.

Edited December 15, 2010 by metisdead
Boldness removed.

[moskito]

You guys bitch about having more then 2 on bikes and helmet quality, you go pay for an extra bike or car and a nice helmet for a poor thai family then. They don't even have mosquetto nets or shutters and any toilets in the NE let alone these luxuarys.

Get real.

I understand what you are saying but I think you are wrong. If they can afford to finance / pay / borrow / steal a bike they should be educated properly by teachers / monks / police / to wear a helmet - how many helmets have you purchased for the needy? I think a helmet will work out cheaper than a funeral service

Just bought 2 new helmets in a shop in Phuket town today. Some Thais bought helmets too, the real cheap stuff for 125.-Baht. When I asked her if her life is not worth 200.-Baht more for a good and safer helmet she just grin. They still dont know WHY and FOR WHAT a headsupport is precious.....Like I said before, helmets in Cities and on Highways are necesary, not in rural areas like North Thailand

[neverdie]

So the average 'Thai motorcyclist' reads the first 9 pages of this thread, after it was translated and it reads like this;

"blah, blah, blah, blah, blan, farang have no idea, what would farang know, blah, blah, blah."

que in the next 9 pages

[moskito]

BTW bicycle helmet laws are being quietly dropped all round the world. Why? Many cities are promoting bicycle rental schemes as an alternative public transport; they are not a success if a helmet law is enforced, and stats show they have very little effect on injury totals.

May be you give us an example, belive it or not, but USA is NOT the WORLD :jap:

[Frenchtouch]

I just came back from a few days in rural Cambodia. Guess what? Most people wear helmets, and farmers in Cambodia are certainly not richer than those in Thailand. Another thing that struck me was that most kids walked or used bicycles to school. In Thailand, not even the poorest farmer would risk the physical damage to her children as a result of walking a few hundred meters to the local learning institution.

The laziness in this country is beyond description sometimes.

Absolutely true. I just come back from Indonesia and Bali. I don't think Balinese are richer than Thai. However, everyone there is wearing a helmet, a real one, not a salad bowl, strapped under the chin. Driver and passenger. And only two people on one bike. Are Balinese more intelligent than Thai?

Last week, I saw a family of 4 on a bike, father, mother, young son standing on the seat, and the woman was sitting side-saddle..... breastfeeding the little one. That on a very busy road at rush hours!

[david555]

You guys bitch about having more then 2 on bikes and helmet quality, you go pay for an extra bike or car and a nice helmet for a poor thai family then. They don't even have mosquetto nets or shutters and any toilets in the NE let alone these luxuarys.

Get real.

I understand what you are saying but I think you are wrong. If they can afford to finance / pay / borrow / steal a bike they should be educated properly by teachers / monks / police / to wear a helmet - how many helmets have you purchased for the needy? I think a helmet will work out cheaper than a funeral service

Just bought 2 new helmets in a shop in Phuket town today. Some Thais bought helmets too, the real cheap stuff for 125.-Baht. When I asked her if her life is not worth 200.-Baht more for a good and safer helmet she just grin. They still dont know WHY and FOR WHAT a headsupport is precious.....Like I said before, helmets in Cities and on Highways are necesary, not in rural areas like North Thailand

I think their is not much differencet iff your head touched the bottom sand or stone in town or rural .........it shall break :jap:

[sexy man]

trouble is if you buy and wear a decent helmet it's stolen as soon as you park your m/c if you secure it they just cut the straps

[Kwasaki]

Anoraks

This is Thailand, don't forget to wear your hard hat under coconut trees.

Great photo, Kwasaki. It points out the ridiculousness of the new law.

The main cause for the accidents is the risk takers. I see many responsible bike riders moving slowly along the highway, but I see just as many more young men (without helmets) racing between trucks and cars at high speed. They fly down narrow sois with no idea what is just around the corner. There are more ways to kill yourself on a bike than banging your head on the pavement. I always wear my cheap helmet and just take the chance that it will protect me, but I don't take risks in jumping lights, running red lights or dodging in and out of narrow gaps in traffic at high speed. One tiny error in judgement, or a patch of oil on the road and you are down in front of fast moving vehicles. The mirrors on the small scooters are totally inadequate for good vision on what's happening behind you.

Enforced Helmet Zones seems best to me. Can't get most folks to wear one normally nor expect them too. Preaching from on high doesn't help. Personally I don't like wearing a helmet -fun reduction and its luggage = lose/stolen risk

Yes Ian great photo and agree with you both, in our village I see the kids all piling on top of each other 5 or 6 on one bike having fun.

I was told simply by my policeman friend that you have to take care of motorbike riders when you are in Thailand because in your car you are bigger than them and it's you that can hurt them, especially if it's kids because if you hit them it will be your fault and make sure you honk your horn at them.

I say take care give them a wide berth keep away from them as much as possible and, yes, honk your horn at them.

There's a guy who gets on the bike forum, he has a great saying. " If shit happens, it happens, and there's nowt you can do about it ".

Most people here are certainly missing the point alright, the fact this is Thailand seems to have slip there mind and are trying to bring there own draconian enforcement laws and mind sets of what country they come from into Thailand, I strongly disagree.

If they want to wear a helmet when others don't, fine, if you wear a piece of plastic so you don't get fined, fine, if at times you don't have to wear a helmet, fine. Thai people do what they want, it is not for anyone here to tell them otherwise they are Thai people and you are not.

I only wear a helmet here when I have to, when I started riding motorbikes in England you didn't have to wear helmets but I bought one because guess what !!! you can go faster, just like the helmet wearing motorbike racers I like having the freedom not to wear a helmet, whether there's laws or silly laws.

[neverdie]

trouble is if you buy and wear a decent helmet it's stolen as soon as you park your m/c if you secure it they just cut the straps

Well surely you would leave other valuables strapped to your motorcycle whilst your cruising around the shopping centres scratching ur ass.

of course, once you've got everyone actually wearing a DOT/SNELL approved lid, you then need to get them to replace them every couple of years, as they normally only have a shelf life of approximately 4-5 years ..... hey look, theres goes a pink pig & its flying.

[ignoramus]

Saw a young man in Pattaya recently with his [presumably broken] helmet strap between his teeth. Compliance of sorts. The traffic was very slow so perhaps he was half safe...

[Jirapa]

You guys bitch about having more then 2 on bikes and helmet quality, you go pay for an extra bike or car and a nice helmet for a poor thai family then. They don't even have mosquetto nets or shutters and any toilets in the NE let alone these luxuarys.

Get real.

True words spoken, most farangs have no idea what poor is, no idea.

Shut up you don't put 2-3 kids on a bike with no helmets and drive like a nutter no matter how poor you are. It's got nothing to do with poverty it's all about education and if you think your so wise well there's a few of us who know the poor people your referring to.

[johncat1]

But if everyone started wearing helmets where would the BIB get their beer money from ?

The other day in Bangkok I had to take a motorcycle taxi because the cars were gridlocked

It was the most terrifying experience of my life ( no passenger helmet of course )

When we finally reached our destination after the normal taxi short cuts ( extra kilometers for higher fare ) I was unable to argue when the motorcycle taxi rider charged me 100 Baht fo a 30 baht ride

I often wonder how many people especially girls riding sidesaddle lose their legs

The next thing they should enforce is lights on motorcycles They are not an option they are necessary !!!!

They even stick a red light on an elephants arse so why no lights on many motorcycles ?

[Just1Voice]

trouble is if you buy and wear a decent helmet it's stolen as soon as you park your m/c if you secure it they just cut the straps

Not necessarily. I drive a CBR 150 (the new one), and have a REAL (brand name) full head/face helmet which cost me just a tad over 2,000 baht. Then I went to Tesco and bought a small bicycle chain/lock for about 100 bht. When I park the bike, the helmet is locked on with that. Sure, a pair of bolt cutters would cut through the chain, but I don't see many Thai walking around with those.

Edited December 15, 2010 by Just1Voice

[Deeral]

Does "wearing a helmet" include sticking it the front basket so it covers the headlamp?

[thaikahuna]

I just came back from a few days in rural Cambodia. Guess what? Most people wear helmets, and farmers in Cambodia are certainly not richer than those in Thailand. Another thing that struck me was that most kids walked or used bicycles to school. In Thailand, not even the poorest farmer would risk the physical damage to her children as a result of walking a few hundred meters to the local learning institution.

The laziness in this country is beyond description sometimes.

Indeed! The attitude here is "What's easy for me" reigns. As long as there are no honest cops to enforce the law its just another avenue for the unscrupulous to take advantage of the lazy.

[Kilgore Trout]

You guys bitch about having more then 2 on bikes and helmet quality, you go pay for an extra bike or car and a nice helmet for a poor thai family then. They don't even have mosquetto nets or shutters and any toilets in the NE let alone these luxuarys.

Get real.

True words spoken, most farangs have no idea what poor is, no idea.

Neither do Thais

[OzMick]

BTW bicycle helmet laws are being quietly dropped all round the world. Why? Many cities are promoting bicycle rental schemes as an alternative public transport; they are not a success if a helmet law is enforced, and stats show they have very little effect on injury totals.

May be you give us an example, belive it or not, but USA is NOT the WORLD :jap:

You'd think that the name would give you a hint, but, just between you and me, I'm not American. A real good example, seeming you asked so nicely, is Melbourne AUSTRALIA. Like quite a few cities, they are trying a bicycle rental scheme a la Amsterdam to ease public transport congestion in the inner city. It has been an abject failure because of helmet laws according to the feedback, as has been the case in other places. People are quite happy to use the bikes, but don't wan to drag a helmet around. Suddenly, all the statistics used to force nanny state laws on people are proven to be inaccurate - lies, dam_n lies and statistics.

I did see a link to a Melbourne Age (a non -american newspaper) in an earlier post re this subject. I didn't read it because I figured I knew its contents. What's your excuse?

[haveaniceday]

"Exactly, quality helmets should be made mandatory if helmets are mandatory. However, for a bright few, there are places where proper helmets can be purchased in Pattaya and Bangkok. " Post #60 page 2.

Can you please give details of these places with proper helmets. PM is fine if not allowed to promote simple safety on TV.

Edit, trying to remove Italics, but Failed.

Edited December 15, 2010 by haveaniceday

[RPCVguy]

And kids riding bikes to school? I didn't realise it was legal to cram 3 kids 12 year olds with no helmets onto bikes.

Once again Thailand misses the point of the problem. The government can insist that their employees or school children wear certain coloured shirts on certain days of the week, but enforcing that people wear helmets to and from their place of work is beyond abilities of persuasion.

Agree - the system is itself at fault. There was an ad campaign in Australia years ago that simply said - "If you have a $10 head wear a $10 helmet - if not - wear a Shoei". This was a good campaign. Helmet laws are for self protection and to ignore it is arrogant and stupidity, the same as the fools with orange shirts and motorbike taxis, who wear a helmet on the back of their heads - and many never even do up the plastic 'brain buckets' they DO wear!

But this will only evolve into more BiB receiving payoffs and thus most likely will help make them fatter but possibly get the right result. So I guess it will work. But as to quality of helmets, none of them would survive a crash test here. Time to introduce standards and ban cheap killers.

But then they can start addressing 4 on a motorbike whose brakes let alone suspension, is 'sus' - even one up! But I do feel for the 'village people' whose only mode of transport is a bike and that is all they can afford but in the city? No way. Especially when the motobikes are being controlled by school kids, underaged, and with no road sense whatsoever.

Both excellent points, as to what is and is not required of students, and the lack of standards as to helmets actually being functional. My step-daughter is midst a 2-month riding suspension (family rules) for a 2nd act of accepting a ride when she was w/o her helmet.

I've discussed this with teachers as to what students do. They know how many accidents they treat internally at the school as relates to motorcycles, but seem unwilling to take any action. I asked why the police at our mini-amphur don't just stake out the exit at school and confiscate all student vehicles where there is a violation - awaiting parental collection. Ok, give the students repeat warnings for a week ahead of time(maybe with some road rule lessons as to speed, lane markings and cautionary signs), but without enforcement the accidents will continue, along with the deaths.

People in the west forget many Christian principles of behavior behind a wheel, and the same holds true for Buddhist beliefs as to the sanctity of life here. Consistent law enforcement of traffic rules is what is needed. :jap:

[swerver]

"Exactly, quality helmets should be made mandatory if helmets are mandatory. However, for a bright few, there are places where proper helmets can be purchased in Pattaya and Bangkok. " Post #60 page 2.

Can you please give details of these places with proper helmets. PM is fine if not allowed to promote simple safety on TV.

Edit, trying to remove Italics, but Failed.

The shops that sale motorbikes in their accessory section sale Approved Helmets.

Not long ago I noticed Honda Motorcycles when buying a Honda Motorcycle giving a Safety Helmet as a present. It would be a good idea if all shops selling motorcycles include a safety helmet in the sale. But of course then the rider has to put it on and buckle it up. The same as the driver of the motorcycle must adjust the REAR VIEW MIRRORS to show the road behind and NOT the face of the driver, as the case is now in Thailand.

[cmken]

We all know in this Land of Smiles that any new laws or regulations are worthless unless they are enforced.

[david555]

You guys bitch about having more then 2 on bikes and helmet quality, you go pay for an extra bike or car and a nice helmet for a poor thai family then. They don't even have mosquetto nets or shutters and any toilets in the NE let alone these luxuarys.

Get real.

True words spoken, most farangs have no idea what poor is, no idea.

i understand the problem , and i am not laughing poorness , but there are priority's...., what if accident an d baby serious wounded , need hospital care ..... what then when poor ...., not a nice thought i know , that is why i talk about prioritys in life ... this could not only make MORE poor , but could be no sufficient medical care for the bad case........:jap:

[Deeral]

THere is no argument for not wearing a helmet.It is nothing to do with "nanny" states etc.

It is quite simple

A helmet will save you only from glancing blows - but anyone who has any experience of RTAs will tell you that they are the main cause of death with motorcyclists.

THese deaths or injuries cost YOU and ME money - we pay for the medical bills, the pensions and day care centres - the family on welfare etc with no bread winner. tHese deaths cost the nation millions every year.

What I can't understand is the nationwide resistance to wearing helmets in Thailand - I have never witnessed it elsewhere - even Machismo Spain and Italy agree that a helmet makes sense

[wichianburi1]

And kids riding bikes to school? I didn't realise it was legal to cram 3 kids 12 year olds with no helmets onto bikes.

Once again Thailand misses the point of the problem. The government can insist that their employees or school children wear certain coloured shirts on certain days of the week, but enforcing that people wear helmets to and from their place of work is beyond abilities of persuasion.

Agree - the system is itself at fault. There was an ad campaign in Australia years ago that simply said - "If you have a $10 head wear a $10 helmet - if not - wear a Shoei". This was a good campaign. Helmet laws are for self protection and to ignore it is arrogant and stupidity, the same as the fools with orange shirts and motorbike taxis, who wear a helmet on the back of their heads - and many never even do up the plastic 'brain buckets' they DO wear!

But this will only evolve into more BiB receiving payoffs and thus most likely will help make them fatter but possibly get the right result. So I guess it will work. But as to quality of helmets, none of them would survive a crash test here. Time to introduce standards and ban cheap killers.

But then they can start addressing 4 on a motorbike whose brakes let alone suspension, is 'sus' - even one up! But I do feel for the 'village people' whose only mode of transport is a bike and that is all they can afford but in the city? No way. Especially when the motobikes are being controlled by school kids, underaged, and with no road sense whatsoever.

Both excellent points, as to what is and is not required of students, and the lack of standards as to helmets actually being functional. My step-daughter is midst a 2-month riding suspension (family rules) for a 2nd act of accepting a ride when she was w/o her helmet.

I've discussed this with teachers as to what students do. They know how many accidents they treat internally at the school as relates to motorcycles, but seem unwilling to take any action. I asked why the police at our mini-amphur don't just stake out the exit at school and confiscate all student vehicles where there is a violation - awaiting parental collection. Ok, give the students repeat warnings for a week ahead of time(maybe with some road rule lessons as to speed, lane markings and cautionary signs), but without enforcement the accidents will continue, along with the deaths.

People in the west forget many Christian principles of behavior behind a wheel, and the same holds true for Buddhist beliefs as to the sanctity of life here. Consistent law enforcement of traffic rules is what is needed. :jap:

I believe that irresponsibility of the adults and lack of willingness to educate youngsters in a meaningful way are the core issues and roots of the problem. As long as one can see folks, including policemen in uniform, driving against one-way roads without being warned/fined, the fatality rate will remain high. Nationwide education programs on road safety/driving behaviour should be repeatedly diseminated with all possible means. If there is a Will, there is a Way! The question remains .....is there a Will???

[moskito]

You guys bitch about having more then 2 on bikes and helmet quality, you go pay for an extra bike or car and a nice helmet for a poor thai family then. They don't even have mosquetto nets or shutters and any toilets in the NE let alone these luxuarys.

Get real.

True words spoken, most farangs have no idea what poor is, no idea.

Ohhhh yeah, same old story of poor Thaipeople. Sorry but what does poor mean to you? Not to have a 2nd TV in your bathroom or not have enough to eat? I can name without thinking 10 countries in

this world where people are REALY POOR. Stop whining around. Thais are not poor. I dont live here since yesterday nor I am one of this stupid Farang still beliving the POOR story, but right, thats

Thaistyle....like the right to drive without a helmet. But at least buy one for your child then, it cant say I WANT A HELMET

[stander]

One thing that really surprises me and for the life of me I can't comprehend is that here in Hua Hin the majority of farangs, whether long term residence or tourists don't bother wearing a helmet , at best they may carrying one and only put it on to avoid the BIB.

[NamBewick]

I doubt that this going to help much since the helmets that most people are wearing are not even a proper motorbike helmets.

[thrilled]

All the helmets that i've ever seen are made out of plastic,"fiberglass"Ya hit A brick wall at 60 mph ,you can forget it.And the clothes people wear,shorts and sandels,thats really great protection.