A survey conducted by the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP) and the Ministry of Education and Training in three big cities of Vietnam showed that fewer children wore helmets while riding motorbikes in Hanoi than in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.
AIP Foundation has launched a national campaign titled “Children also need helmets”. The campaign aims to improve child safety on roads and awareness of the necessity to wear motorcycle helmets. It also is targeting adoption of wearing of helmets as a compulsory habit, especially in the big cities within the next three years.
Only 16 percent children in Hanoi wore helmets on roads while 44.5 percent children in HCMC and 47.5 percent in Da Nang used helmets while riding a motorbike.
These figures were released at a workshop organized by the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP Foundation) and the Ministry of Education and Training in Hanoi on Monday.
The Ministry has made a commitment to raise awareness and importance of wearing helmets, bringing it into the general school curriculum and introducing more outdoor and extracurricular activities to instill better traffic safety.
In addition, the Ministry has asked parents to commit themselves to wearing helmets and also making their children wear helmets while driving on motorcycles on roads.
Colonel Nguyen Huu Tuyen, chief of the Department of Rail Transport, said police will impose a fine on parents who ride with their children without helmets on motorbikes.
