Parents urged to ensure kids are safe at all times

[webfact]

Parents urged to ensure kids are safe at all times
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Nearly 900,000 children required emergency medical treatment last year, and over a third of them were victims of road accidents. The National Institute for Emergency Medicine (NIEM) released these statistics yesterday in a move to focus public attention on child safety.

Parents who allow children to ride motorcycles without wearing a helmet were found to be a major cause of injuries. "Thailand marks its National Children's Day on the second Saturday of January every year with fun activities. However, this time we feel compelled to point out that many children were in danger last year," NIEM secretary-general Anucha Setthasathien said.

He said 899,817 patients who needed emergency services were no older than 15 years in 2013, and that 319,794 of these had been injured in traffic accidents, 91,902 had been injured in falls and 29,946 hurt in physical assaults. Some 3,612 sustained injuries from exposure to hot water, chemicals or electric shocks. And 1,598 were treated for water-related injuries.

"Parents should be more careful. Most children riding motorcycles do not wear helmets," Anucha said.

He also pointed that many parents failed to install child car seats for their young children.

"That's why children are the most affected when accidents happen," he said. He has also called on parents to ensure that all power sockets at home are covered if they have young children at home to reduce the risk of electric shocks.

Anucha urged parents to call the 1669 24-hour hotline in case of emergency.


-- The Nation 2014-01-11

[kurnell]

Yep, laughable. 3 kids as pillion on a bike, weaving in and out of traffic = dead kids,. but then it's the only way to get around.

[yooper2001]

HAHAHA just go near any grade school in Thailand and you will see underage kids riding 4 on a bike and all with no helmets. Also the police are there guiding traffic, and do their job, which is absolutely nothing. ( there is no way to line their pocket with children lunch money )

[Scamper]

" Parents should be more careful. Most children riding motorcycles do not wear helmets," Anucha said. "

Excuse me, but there is a law in Thailand that forbids anyone under the age of eighteen from riding a motorbike. Surely that would be the first concern of parents. We have all seen children ride motorbikes - both with and without helmets. Only the adults are asked on the streets to produce a license, or to take responsibility ( pay an instant fine ) for not wearing a helmet. Why is that the most obvious thing to address is always the last to be noticed ?

[NongKhaiKid]

Isn't it sad that parents have to be ' urged ' to look after their children ? Quite an indictment of society.

[ginjag]

Isn't it sad that parents have to be ' urged ' to look after their children ? Quite an indictment of society.

A parents answer. " What ??? are you trying to tell us we are responsible. we thought the schools were, now that gives us another big headache , We thought the police were responsible for the kid-under age riding and no crash hat. We only gave birth to them and pay for their schooling".

[chainarong]

How many time do you see three , four kids on a motor bike , no wounder they call it population control, just comes back to the old theme, education.

[FangFerang]

This thread is so incomprehensibly baffling and infuriating that I fuind myself upset there is no emoticon for Duh. I will settle for

Maybe a helmet-pledging scheme would fix this....

[TommyUK1960]

Kids in Thailand.

Most riding motorbike from the age 5.

Most never wear crash helmet. They will use mobile phone while driving. I see a crash and the young school girl was texting at the time of driving M'bike and It looked like she could lose her leg. Not funny.

None of them worry about accident with other car (who's going to pay?)

Parents irresponsible for buying and let them use M'bikes. I get really pissed off when its farang buying motorbike for kids.

I also never see kids use the seat belts when in cars.

I suppose its so easy to make new kids.

.

[Thai at Heart]

What a stupid headline.

As opposed to say encouraging them to do free climbing, or cliff diving?

[Pomthai]

Kids in Thailand.

Most riding motorbike from the age 5.

Most never wear crash helmet. They will use mobile phone while driving. I see a crash and the young school girl was texting at the time of driving M'bike and It looked like she could lose her leg. Not funny.

None of them worry about accident with other car (who's going to pay?)

Parents irresponsible for buying and let them use M'bikes. I get really pissed off when its farang buying motorbike for kids.

I also never see kids use the seat belts when in cars.

I suppose its so easy to make new kids.

.

Everyone wears a seat belt in our car me, kids, mum. The doesn't move otherwise.

[NongKhaiKid]

Isn't it sad that parents have to be ' urged ' to look after their children ? Quite an indictment of society.

A parents answer. " What ??? are you trying to tell us we are responsible. we thought the schools were, now that gives us another big headache , We thought the police were responsible for the kid-under age riding and no crash hat. We only gave birth to them and pay for their schooling".

You've got that completely right . Years ago I worked at a rural university and got to know some of the teachers working at various schools. One very experienced primary school teacher told me that at a PTA meeting only a couple of nights previously she was appalled at the attitude of many parents when it came to responsibility.

On the subject of truancy they would not accept any liability and made it clear they did their bit by getting the children out of the house in the morning and it was up to the school to educate them, so if the kids decide not to go to school it wasn't their fault and if they did not arrive for classes it was up to the school to go looking for them. How many schools have enough spare teachers to form a posse to tour a municipality looking for truants ?

Since than I've heard so many similar stories so it was by no means an isolated incident in one area only.

[marko kok prong]

About 20 mins ago driving to local market,two motorsais with boys no older than 12 driving,came hurtling down a narrow soi,i flashed my lights at them,but they just headed strait at me,i pulled over as far as i could and ended up scraping a motorsai sidecar parked on the other side,luckily no damage to side car but i now have a nice scratch on my rear passenger side door,if the little b*****d had hit me,,well guess who would of been blamed,me,fully insured,thai licence,the kid,no helmet,insurance,licence and clearly no idea how to drive,of course i would be expected to pay,makes me so damn angry that the parents would probably turn up and blame me,not understanding the kid should not be on the bike,and of course how happy would they be when they saw a falang = maybe new motorsai,ye gods,what is wrong with these fools.

[gp2002]

"He also pointed that many parents failed to install child car seats for their young children."

Usually the children are bouncing all over the vehicle with the baby sitting in the driver's lap.

"Parents should be more careful. Most children riding motorcycles do not wear helmets," Anucha said.

I guess they had to arm wrestle for the two helmets in this photo. Of course the YOUNGEST child DOESN'T have a helmet.

[mikemac]

This thread is so incomprehensibly baffling and infuriating that I fuind myself upset there is no emoticon for Duh. I will settle for

Maybe a helmet-pledging scheme would fix this....

That is a kind hearted thought, but they would probably not receive their helmets.

[01322521959]

"He also pointed that many parents failed to install child car seats for their young children."

Usually the children are bouncing all over the vehicle with the baby sitting in the driver's lap.

"Parents should be more careful. Most children riding motorcycles do not wear helmets," Anucha said.

I guess they had to arm wrestle for the two helmets in this photo. Of course the YOUNGEST child DOESN'T have a helmet.

Kids on the drivers lap. You should know by now that this is so they don't have to take the airbag option. 9 months and mums produced her own.

[ramrod711]

Police officer in our village drives his son to school on a motorbike every morning. Officer full uniform including helmet, child, school uniform (shorts and short sleeved shirt), no helmet.

[Thai at Heart]

The funny thing is, the pooyai urges buy never forces or educates.

The omniscient pooyai is as much of the problem as the uneducated common man.

[marko kok prong]

"He also pointed that many parents failed to install child car seats for their young children."

Usually the children are bouncing all over the vehicle with the baby sitting in the driver's lap.

"Parents should be more careful. Most children riding motorcycles do not wear helmets," Anucha said.

I guess they had to arm wrestle for the two helmets in this photo. Of course the YOUNGEST child DOESN'T have a helmet.

my step son refuses to wear the rear seat belt,so i refuse to take him in the car,one day the little idiot,started fiddling with the door handle,,so i refuse to take him in the car without the belt,so he does not go,same as i refuse to have people sitting in the back tray,as if there is an accident,who will be blamed and asked to pay ,compo,medical bills etc,i know this is thailand,but safety is safety,i get especially annoyed when i see other falangs with no helmet,with children on the bike with them with no helmet,i have seen the result of an accident[not here,in mexico] when someone head made contact with a hard surface without a helmet,and i can tell you it is not something i wish to see again,the police should be out and about every day enforcing this,and proper helmets,the girl in the photo looks like she is wearing a dessert bowl on her head,all helmets should be full face,and the govt should mount a advertising campaign,helmet could be included in price of motorsai,but of course who i am kidding,take a pigs head up the temple instead,and all will be okay.

[sawadee1947]

...other countries use contraceptive pills.......Thais avoid wearing helmets.....same result..........it's .Thainess......

[DocN]

"Parents should be more careful. Most children riding motorcycles do not wear helmets," Anucha said.

I hope...I really, really do hope...that moron was talking about children riding motorcycles as passengers...?!

Otherwise, this would be the single most stupid comment I ever heard in this country!

[Loles]

Very very hard work to be a kid in TH. Don't joke, not funny at all.

[LuckyLew]

It always amazes and stuns me when I see parent and child on a motor bike

Parent wearing helmet ... child not wearing helmet

If you can afford a motor bike and one helmet .. not providing one for a child is stupid and iresponsible

As for teens on a bike with not helmet ... issue here is "being cool" ... too many teens think it is not cool to wear a helmet

[EyesWideOpen]

It always amazes and stuns me when I see parent and child on a motor bike

Parent wearing helmet ... child not wearing helmet

If you can afford a motor bike and one helmet .. not providing one for a child is stupid and iresponsible

As for teens on a bike with not helmet ... issue here is "being cool" ... too many teens think it is not cool to wear a helmet

I am the same. I have a three year old daughter, and I would never ever dream of taking

her anywhere on a motorcycle without a helmet. So I am in open mouthed astonishment

when I see a parent driving his child perched on the front seat of the bike with no helmet.

Are Thai children considered disposable ?? Or does the parent believe if the child

dies in a motorcycle accident while the parent lives because he/she was wearing a helmet,

that the child will go onto a Buddhist designated higher place ?? Or maybe there is no

thinking going on at all.....

[tomyummer]

Wow! Of a 60 million population, that's quite a scary statistic.

[Thai at Heart]

It always amazes and stuns me when I see parent and child on a motor bike

Parent wearing helmet ... child not wearing helmet

If you can afford a motor bike and one helmet .. not providing one for a child is stupid and iresponsible

As for teens on a bike with not helmet ... issue here is "being cool" ... too many teens think it is not cool to wear a helmet

I am the same. I have a three year old daughter, and I would never ever dream of taking

her anywhere on a motorcycle without a helmet. So I am in open mouthed astonishment

when I see a parent driving his child perched on the front seat of the bike with no helmet.

Are Thai children considered disposable ?? Or does the parent believe if the child

dies in a motorcycle accident while the parent lives because he/she was wearing a helmet,

that the child will go onto a Buddhist designated higher place ?? Or maybe there is no

thinking going on at all.....

Problem is you will genuinely here it said that thai families love their children than foreigners love their children.

[MESmith]

I am the same. I have a three year old daughter, and I would never ever dream of taking

her anywhere on a motorcycle without a helmet. So I am in open mouthed astonishment

when I see a parent driving his child perched on the front seat of the bike with no helmet.

Are Thai children considered disposable ?? Or does the parent believe if the child

dies in a motorcycle accident while the parent lives because he/she was wearing a helmet,

that the child will go onto a Buddhist designated higher place ?? Or maybe there is no

thinking going on at all.....

I would never dream of taking a 3 year old on a motorcycle, period.

If you can afford to have kids, you can afford a car....

[surangw]

HAHAHA just go near any grade school in Thailand and you will see underage kids riding 4 on a bike and all with no helmets. Also the police are there guiding traffic, and do their job, which is absolutely nothing. ( there is no way to line their pocket with children lunch money )

I see lots of kids in high end cars with no seat belts or infant seats.

looks like having wealth is no indication of common sense

[Thunder26]

It always amazes and stuns me when I see parent and child on a motor bike

Parent wearing helmet ... child not wearing helmet

If you can afford a motor bike and one helmet .. not providing one for a child is stupid and iresponsible

As for teens on a bike with not helmet ... issue here is "being cool" ... too many teens think it is not cool to wear a helmet

I am the same. I have a three year old daughter, and I would never ever dream of taking

her anywhere on a motorcycle without a helmet. So I am in open mouthed astonishment

when I see a parent driving his child perched on the front seat of the bike with no helmet.

Are Thai children considered disposable ?? Or does the parent believe if the child

dies in a motorcycle accident while the parent lives because he/she was wearing a helmet,

that the child will go onto a Buddhist designated higher place ?? Or maybe there is no

thinking going on at all.....

I have a four year old daughter and I would never sit her on a bike! I am not talking about helmets, I really mean I would never let her ride a bike even with a helmet. It is irresponsible and life threatening. In 9 years in Thailand everyone I know who rides a bike had an accident. For some unfortunately the accident was lethal. Please wise up and don't use or ride bikes in heavy traffic where nobody gives a damn about human life!

[ozterix]

if you live in thailand and have a driving license, you must have seen the movie about the bad driver who aggresses everyone and then the good family driving nicely, abiding by the law where both parents sit with a seatbelt in the front and their 8 year old girl is standing in the back, in between the 2 front seat, ready to be catapulted through the windscreen if they hit anything... This is the law in Thailand, get a kid in the back, let him stand up between the front seat watching the road, it is more fun, singing along with the family...

the movie however, forces you to watch a long sequence that shows you how to old the steering wheel even if this is the 5th time you renew your 5 yrs driving license