Motorcycle Road Safety

[Gweiloman]

Not sure if I can post the link here but I'll give it a try anyways.

One of the posters on this forum made a post on the Expat Forum of BP on the above topic which I think raises some interesting points for discussion.

In particular, it's about school kids riding without helmets, 3 or 4 or even 5 on a bike, riding without a license etc etc.

In the bubble wrapped, molly coddled western world, road safety standards are high and rightly so. However, there exists various avenues and options for kids to get to and from school, such as school buses, public buses, parents in their SUV's etc.

However here in Thailand, majority of kids that lives in a mooban has no such option. So most of them have no choice but to hitch a ride on a friend's bike. Helmets are also not very practical due to price, storage (at school) and risk of theft.

So, despite all good intentions, are internationally accepted standards practical here? Based on your knowledge and experience of living in Thailand, what safety measures can actually prove practical and effective?

[papa al]

Walk to and from school.

Good exercise.

[guzzi850m2]

Well especially school kids not wearing helmets are something the police should really crack down on since the parents apparently don't give a shit.

Send the cops to the schools and give lectures with a slide show that shows what can happen if wearing no helmet and you are brain damaged.

The cops did just that back in Denmark in the 1970/80 when I went to school then, the pictures was brutal but made you think.

Okay no tea money in it for the cops here, so not likely to happen.

We got a kids seat for my 5 year old son to sit in when in the pick-up truck, not easy to find such a seat here, Thais rather spend the money on fatter tires or noisy exhausts. All car accessories shops should have kids car seats but no, they only sell all sorts of crap that you don't really need.

You often see the kids standing just behind the front seats, about the worst place you can be in a 4 wheeled box if the shit hits the fan.

Most Thais simply lacks the necessary education for driving/riding safe and what to do to improve your kids survival rate or perhaps they think Buddha will protect them.

This is one of the bad things about Thailand, their level of road safety knowledge/awareness is about year 1960 compared to EU & US

[NoshowJones]

Well especially school kids not wearing helmets are something the police should really crack down on since the parents apparently don't give a shit.

Send the cops to the schools and give lectures with a slide show that shows what can happen if wearing no helmet and you are brain damaged.

The cops did just that back in Denmark in the 1970/80 when I went to school then, the pictures was brutal but made you think.

Okay no tea money in it for the cops here, so not likely to happen.

We got a kids seat for my 5 year old son to sit in when in the pick-up truck, not easy to find such a seat here, Thais rather spend the money on fatter tires or noisy exhausts. All car accessories shops should have kids car seats but no, they only sell all sorts of crap that you don't really need.

You often see the kids standing just behind the front seats, about the worst place you can be in a 4 wheeled box if the shit hits the fan.

Most Thais simply lacks the necessary education for driving/riding safe and what to do to improve your kids survival rate or perhaps they think Buddha will protect them.

This is one of the bad things about Thailand, their level of road safety knowledge/awareness is about year 1960 compared to EU & US

It would not matter how much training you give the average Thai in driving or riding. The most important thing in driving and riding is common sense, and that lacks very badly. I am not a Thai basher, and I often credit them for their decency and honesty, but I also call things as I see them, and stand by what I said about Thais and common sense.

[Shurup]

Need more strings around handlebars and a few buddha amulets and they'd be OK.

This keeps me safe so it works!