Another push for helmet use in Phuket

Officials once again pushed for more motorcycle riders to wear helmets in Thailand, this time in Phuket. The push is part of another of Thailand’s many road safety campaigns.

Local officials handed out helmets to students and other community members in the Wichit area of Phuket’s main city district on Wednesday. The officials also finished painting a crosswalk in front of Dibuk hospital. The campaign is being organised by the Phuket Provincial Office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket).

The DDPM’s Deputy Chief Pornthep Prekham said the campaign is targeting several local agencies and institutions in enforcing the ‘helmet use’ law. These include all government agencies, educational institutions, medical institutions, local administrative organisations, and child development centres.

Pornthep said he wants leaders and officials to be role models in obeying traffic rules, especially helmet-wearing. He stressed how many reckless drivers had cost Phuket lives and property.

Pornthep also warned the public…

“These are 100% helmet-wearing areas, and technology will be used to support rigorous law enforcement against those who do not wear helmets while driving.”

This campaign comes two months after another helmet campaign in Thailand, this one in the eastern Trat province. The deputy chief of Trat Provincial Police, along with a team of traffic police, passed out free helmets to riders passing by a school in the main city district in July.

Thailand’s roads are notoriously deadly. Thailand has been ranked as the second most dangerous country to drive in according to a driver’s educational platform. There were 21,052 accidents in 2020, and 11,138 accidents in 2021. Some 20% of accidents involved motorcycles, while 8% involved six-wheel trucks, and 8% involved trucks with at least 10 wheels.

In July, two foreigners died in separate motorcycle crashes in Pattaya in one weekend, both of whom were not wearing helmets.

SOURCE: The Phuket News

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