70% of children do not wear helmets

After 10 years of implementing the mandatory helmet wearing regulation for motorcyclists, the helmet wearing rate for adults has reached over 90%, while this figure for children is only 30-40%.

On December 15, the National Traffic Safety Committee summarized 10 years of implementing the mandatory helmet wearing regulation for motorcyclists, motorbike riders, and electric bicycle riders.

After 10 years, two issues still cause headaches for management agencies: the rate of children wearing helmets is too low, while this group is in great need of protection, and fake, counterfeit, and poor quality helmets are still rampant.

Only 30-40% of children wear helmets

According to statistics from the National Traffic Safety Committee, after 10 years of implementing the regulation requiring people to wear helmets when riding motorbikes and mopeds, the rate of people wearing helmets when participating in traffic has reached more than 90%. Wearing helmets has contributed significantly to reducing the number of deaths due to traffic accidents to less than 9,000 people per year as well as limiting many serious injuries.

However, according to Mr. Khuat Viet Hung - Vice Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, the rate of children wearing helmets is currently low, at 30-40%.

Helmets are required for children 6 years of age and older.

Sharing this view, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Tuong - Deputy Head of the Traffic Safety Committee of Ho Chi Minh City said that the low rate of children wearing helmets is something that always makes people working in this field like him feel uneasy.

"We have organized a propaganda campaign to schools, in conjunction with the Department of Education and the city police, about helmet wearing for children. The rate of children wearing helmets during the campaign reached 95% in urban areas. In rural areas, this rate increased from 30% to 60%, but after the campaign ended, it could not be maintained. Here, the responsibility of the children's parents is also needed."

According to regulations, children aged 6 and over are required to wear helmets. However, in the past 10 years, in Ho Chi Minh City alone, authorities have penalized more than 500,000 cases of not wearing helmets, including 1,920 cases of not wearing helmets for children.

Considering that the rate of children wearing helmets in rural areas is lower than in urban areas and that on holidays and Tet, the rate of people participating in traffic without wearing helmets increases, Major General Nguyen Ngoc Tuan - Deputy Director of the Traffic Police Department, Ministry of Public Security said that from September 15, 2007 to November 15, 2017, police units and localities have drawn up records to handle violations of not wearing helmets, or wearing helmets but not fastening the straps for 6,891,646 cases, accounting for 11.89% of the total number of violations of road traffic safety order.

Children are the ones who need to be protected in terms of health and life, so wearing helmets is extremely important. Therefore, it is necessary to raise awareness of the whole society about this issue.

Poor quality helmets are rampant

Dr. Kidong Park - Chief Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Vietnam, said that according to WHO research, the rate of people wearing helmets in Vietnam is high, but the rate of people wearing helmet straps and wearing helmets according to standards is only about 70%.

"Notably, in 2013, WHO surveyed and found that only 30% of helmets on the market met standards. However, of the standard helmets, when we conducted tests, only 40% met all requirements," said Dr. Kidong Park.

WHO representative said that Vietnam needs specific and clear regulations on the production and wearing of standard helmets because the growth in the number of motorbikes in Vietnam is still the second highest in the world, in order to protect the lives of traffic participants.

According to Mr. Ho Nghia Dung - former Minister of Transport, the widespread prevalence of fake and poor quality helmets is one of the pressing issues. Mr. Ho Nghia Dung suggested that it is necessary to rectify helmet production and trading activities, focusing on inspection and control at the production stage. At the same time, it is necessary to promote propaganda about wearing standard helmets so that this regulation is implemented in practice, avoiding formality.

On the sidelines of the conference, Mr. Khuat Viet Hung said that in order to implement the regulation requiring children aged 6 and above to wear standard helmets and prevent fake helmets from circulating on the market, it is necessary to clearly define the responsibilities of ministries and branches.

Specifically, the Minister of Industry and Trade must be responsible to the Government for the quality of helmets circulating on the market. The Minister of Science and Technology must be responsible to the Government for helmets that are allowed to be produced and meet standards on the market. In addition, departments and sectors need to cooperate with the education sector to make traffic safety education a compulsory subject for students.

According to Capital Security