Bike helmet laws to be enforced in Koh Samui from March 1st

[PoorSucker]

Yesterday morning in Lamai, usual place, dozens of motorbikes caught, no idea if there was a fine for the pillion too ? To day same same no more wearing a helmet.

Fine for the pillion is double the riders fine. 1000 bht

No ,1000 baht if both driver and pillion has no helmet.

Lost in translation.......................

[CarolJadzia]

Yesterday morning in Lamai, usual place, dozens of motorbikes caught, no idea if there was a fine for the pillion too ? To day same same no more wearing a helmet.

Fine for the pillion is double the riders fine. 1000 bht

No ,1000 baht if both driver and pillion has no helmet.

Lost in translation.......................

Can I ask who told you that please?

I just need to pass it on to the officers in Mae nam as they had already had it confirmed it was not 'lost in translation', as they had already questioned the discrepancy.

[bikerlou47]

A few obvious facts that have totally been ignored by these government officials:

1. The helmets that are sold in this country are plastic ans will not protest a skull from getting bashed in!

2. Not wearing a helmet will not cause an accident.

3. Not wearing eye protection will cause an accident. A cheap pair of glasses is all one needs to protect your eyes from all the material and physical pollution that is present on the roadway.

4. Many Thai people refuse to put on their lights day or night!

5. Many Thai people like to change the color of their lights, I have seen red for a head light ans white for a tail light.

6. many Thai people do not wear hats so they will shade their eyes with a hand while driving.

The list is endless......

This country is run by children and the children are not too bright.

[carmine]

A few obvious facts that have totally been ignored by these government officials:

1. The helmets that are sold in this country are plastic ans will not protest a skull from getting bashed in!

2. Not wearing a helmet will not cause an accident.

3. Not wearing eye protection will cause an accident. A cheap pair of glasses is all one needs to protect your eyes from all the material and physical pollution that is present on the roadway.

4. Many Thai people refuse to put on their lights day or night!

5. Many Thai people like to change the color of their lights, I have seen red for a head light ans white for a tail light.

6. many Thai people do not wear hats so they will shade their eyes with a hand while driving.

The list is endless......

This country is run by children and the children are not too bright.

Yes, obvious facts that are also ignored by the rose tinted farangs who make themselves just a culpable to the apathy here.

Basically, who gives <deleted> if new roads are laid when all that means is that the lunacy on the roads here just gets faster!!

[silver sea]

Yesterday morning in Lamai, usual place, dozens of motorbikes caught, no idea if there was a fine for the pillion too ? To day same same no more wearing a helmet.

Fine for the pillion is double the riders fine. 1000 bht

No ,1000 baht if both driver and pillion has no helmet.

Lost in translation.......................

Can I ask who told you that please?

I just need to pass it on to the officers in Mae nam as they had already had it confirmed it was not 'lost in translation', as they had already questioned the discrepancy.

At the helmet check in Lamai, the fine was 400 THB for not wearing a helmet, rather than 500 Baht as advertised.

The ticket lists 5 or 6 infringements e.g. not wearing a helmet (there is not a separate box for the pillion driver); not having a valid licence for motorcycle; no licence plate; parts missing from bike etc

... but there was no box for talking on your mobile phone while driving your bike.

At the first table, you have to show your licence, otherwise you get two boxes ticked on the ticket i.e. not wearing helmet and not having a valid licence. Presumably, you would then have to pay double the fine.

You take the ticket to a separate table. You hand over the money with the ticket. You can then pick up your keys from the table.

Under the old system, you got a receipt to show that you had already been fined, and you were verbally told by the officer that it was valid for the rest of the day i.e. you would not get fined for the same offence that day if stopped at another checkpoint on the island. On Friday, however, when you handed over the ticket and the money, you did not get a receipt in return. Presumably, therefore, although you have paid once, you are no longer covered for the rest of the day.

[CarolJadzia]

A few obvious facts that have totally been ignored by these government officials:

1. The helmets that are sold in this country are plastic ans will not protest a skull from getting bashed in!

2. Not wearing a helmet will not cause an accident.

3. Not wearing eye protection will cause an accident. A cheap pair of glasses is all one needs to protect your eyes from all the material and physical pollution that is present on the roadway.

4. Many Thai people refuse to put on their lights day or night!

5. Many Thai people like to change the color of their lights, I have seen red for a head light ans white for a tail light.

6. many Thai people do not wear hats so they will shade their eyes with a hand while driving.

The list is endless......

This country is run by children and the children are not too bright.

1. You are right in that many of the helmets sold in Thailand are sub-standard. But that is certainly not all of them. If you look on the Facebook CB650FThailand page for example, you will find a recent thread sharing what helmets the group members have. They are Shoei's, Aria's. AGV's and other well known makes. Very few cheap helmets. Yes people on small bikes tend to wear cheaper rubbish helmets, but it's far from all.

2. Yes very true, But it is the one bit of kit that has proved to give the rider the best chance of surviving an accident if they do have one.

3. Please give me any evidence that not wearing eye protection will cause an accident? Of course sun glasses may help riders to see better under certain conditions, but they can also cause problems as well. Obviously sun glasses are not much help at night, but they can also cause problems with shadows in the day. I am not suggesting they are not helpful, especially at higher speeds, but not wearing eye protection does not cause accidents.

4. So what? Yes lights are required at night and it' foolish not to use them. But it's not so clear that they are required in the day. In fact under certain conditions they can be counter productive and even if someone see's you because of the light, it's harder to judge the speed of a moving light so may pull out on a rider anyway.

5. Yes silly isn't it? But it's not just Thai Riders. There are many riders in the UK who do the same as well.

6. And? It is an old dispatch rider trick to put a line of insulation tape across the top of a visor to act as a sun visor. Some helmets now have built in sun visors, but they do not always help when going directly in to a low sun. Do you suggest riders allow themselves to be blinded and have an accident? What do you suggest as an alternative?

[pennine]

Has anyone else living in Samui noticed what a resounding success the crackdown on motorbike users not wearing a crash helmet has been. It was reported that the crackdown would start on 1st March, but I still see 80 to 90% no helmet.

[Truroboy]

Yes commented to the wife also about the signage only seen one by Fishermans Village but saw Finex WiFi signs on every electric pole going up to Makro

Really making a difference in road safety !!!!!!!

[Basil B]

Next announcement...

"Revised Start Date for Helmet Crackdown ...April 1st"

[smily]

Haven't seen any checkpoints since March 1st anyway. Maybe when people start getting fined though it may change slightly as the fines are hefty at 500 & 1000 bht.

[CarolJadzia]

Haven't seen any checkpoints since March 1st anyway. Maybe when people start getting fined though it may change slightly as the fines are hefty at 500 & 1000 bht.

At the helmet check in Lamai, the fine was 400 THB for not wearing a helmet, rather than 500 Baht as advertised.

The ticket lists 5 or 6 infringements e.g. not wearing a helmet (there is not a separate box for the pillion driver); not having a valid licence for motorcycle; no licence plate; parts missing from bike etc

... but there was no box for talking on your mobile phone while driving your bike.

At the first table, you have to show your licence, otherwise you get two boxes ticked on the ticket i.e. not wearing helmet and not having a valid licence. Presumably, you would then have to pay double the fine.

You take the ticket to a separate table. You hand over the money with the ticket. You can then pick up your keys from the table.

Under the old system, you got a receipt to show that you had already been fined, and you were verbally told by the officer that it was valid for the rest of the day i.e. you would not get fined for the same offence that day if stopped at another checkpoint on the island. On Friday, however, when you handed over the ticket and the money, you did not get a receipt in return. Presumably, therefore, although you have paid once, you are no longer covered for the rest of the day.

Have checked out the suggested fines and it seems the 400 baht is the mistake :-) but as my friends say, that's the way it is.

The 'guidelines' that have been issued are 1000 baht for pillion.

As many of the Police Officers on the Island are Bikers, many are at Surat Thani Bike Week.

We will see what happens when they come back.

Helmet enforcement will only ever work where enforced, it may work if heavily enforced on Samui as it's a small island.

However Increasing that to the whole of Thailand is going to take more than enforcement. It needs a change in attitude and beliefs.

[Oldschool59]

Wearing my helmet on the 1st was passed by two policemen wearing.....yes you got it.....Baseball caps?

[Rooo]

Don't see any difference. another bull public announcement to make it look good. What a load of rubbish..

[balo]

Funny how the sheep are cheering for their own enslavement !

1. Helmets are for PERSONAL safety and as such should be a PERSONAL choice

2. Helmets do NOT make traffic more safe !!!

Samui has no bigger problems I guess ... but that's not so popular like the Helmet-band-waggon BS !!!

If you believe that helmets are a personal choice, then I guess you will agree that the rescue teams who have to scrape your brains off the road following an accident also have a personal choice not to bother.... if you are too stupid to live in a reasonable society, then you cannot ask that society to look after you....

Bike helmet laws to be enforced in Koh Samui

OMG! How did I survive the 1950s and 1960s as I kid?

You were lucky , and I don't think the traffic in the 1950's can even compare with today's traffic , especially in Thailand.