Helmet Law

BEFORE: Nobody likes helmets. Hot. Ugly. Messes up your hair. Like wearing a rice cooker on your head. So, nobody wore them. Well, almost nobody. There's one in this photo from August '06. A couple years earlier, the government tried a helmet law on, but people gave them so much feedback that they limited it to a requirement to wear a helmet only on the major highways between cities.


AFTER: Nobody likes helmets. Hot. Ugly. Messes up your hair. Like wearing a rice cooker on your head. But, tired of the traumatic head injuries (and bodies) piling up, the VN government passed a law this year that requires everyone everywhere to wear one - drivers and passengers. It went into effect yesterday (15 December). I was interested to see what compliance was going to be like Saturday morning when I woke up. Much to my surprise, nearly everyone had a "mu bao hiem" on their head! I had to ride about 4 km to a meeting and could have counted the number of helmet-less drivers on the fingers of one hand - till I decided I needed both hands (and eyes) to drive.

Cops were out in force. The traffic cops even recruited help from district police, security police and a few good men from the army. Every major intersection had police standing ready to crack down on scofflaws. But I also heard a rumor that in Saigon some enterprising folks had set up helmet rental booths near the intersections of one of the main roads. If you didn't have a helmet you could pull over, rent one for a few cents and return it to another booth on the other side of the traffic stop. (Just a rumor, I'm sure.)

Enforcement is going to be strong for a few weeks at least. It will be interesting to see how long those helmets stay on.