GOVERNOR Wichai Praisa-ngob is hoping to extend the successful Phuket City campaign for motorcycle helmet safety to the whole island as soon as possible.
Plans are underway for the Department of Transport to fund the purchase of 20,000 additional helmets that would be given away to enable the scheme to be applied almost immediately in the Kathu and Thalang districts.
Adding urgency to the governor's move is the rapidly increasing number of motorcycle riders now taking to the streets.
A previous ban on Burmese laborers buying or riding motorcycles is no longer in operation, leading to as many as 10 Burmese taking tests for licences at the Phuket riding facility in Saphan Hin every weekday.
The strategic effort by police in Phuket City to ensure all motorcycle riders and passengers wear helmets has proven effective, although numbers wearing helmets still reduce dramatically after dark, and away from main roads.
Helmet quality will also have to be addressed at some stage. Plastic versions selling at roadside stalls for 100 baht as a result of the crackdown are probably not quite what police had in mind.
The strategy was the brainchild of Colonel Wanchai Eakporntip, superintendent of Phuket City police station. He first enlisted the help of local communities, organised the giving away of quality helmets, and orchestrated the making of a safety film based on motorcycle mishaps and deaths on Phuket, which becomes compulsory viewing for those caught without helmets.
The strategy for creating safety awareness through the helmet crackdown is now being viewed as ''the Phuket model'' for introduction in other provinces in Thailand where deaths and injuries relating to motorcycles are high.
While quality helmets will help to cut Phuket road deaths and injuries, it's the awareness of the need for safety that will alleviate the pressure of between 1000 and 1500 serious injuries each month on Phuket's overloaded hospital health system.
Hundreds of thousands of motorcycles from other provinces are also ridden on Phuket by people who come to the island looking for work. As families become more prosperous and are able to afford saloon cars, they usually keep the motorcycles for short trips.
Lack of an efficient, low-cost public transport network across the whole island adds to the pressure on roads and infrastructure. The budget for Phuket roads is supported by a national budget based on Phuket's 320,000 registered citizens - about half the number who actually live and work on Phuket.
Tourists are also likely to be targetted when the helmet campaign spreads to the west coast, where it's not unusual to see visitors riding bare-topped and bare-headed. Yet a motorcycle crash can bring a holiday to an abrupt end and inflict crippling economic damage, as well as injuries.
Phuketwan supports the Mothers or Motorcycles action group. (MoM). MoM seeks to improve road safety awareness and education and to increase the number of people who wear helmets on motorcycles.
Phuket Night Switch Traps Riders With No HelmetsPlans are underway for the Department of Transport to fund the purchase of 20,000 additional helmets that would be given away to enable the scheme to be applied almost immediately in the Kathu and Thalang districts.
Adding urgency to the governor's move is the rapidly increasing number of motorcycle riders now taking to the streets.
A previous ban on Burmese laborers buying or riding motorcycles is no longer in operation, leading to as many as 10 Burmese taking tests for licences at the Phuket riding facility in Saphan Hin every weekday.
The strategic effort by police in Phuket City to ensure all motorcycle riders and passengers wear helmets has proven effective, although numbers wearing helmets still reduce dramatically after dark, and away from main roads.
Helmet quality will also have to be addressed at some stage. Plastic versions selling at roadside stalls for 100 baht as a result of the crackdown are probably not quite what police had in mind.
The strategy was the brainchild of Colonel Wanchai Eakporntip, superintendent of Phuket City police station. He first enlisted the help of local communities, organised the giving away of quality helmets, and orchestrated the making of a safety film based on motorcycle mishaps and deaths on Phuket, which becomes compulsory viewing for those caught without helmets.
The strategy for creating safety awareness through the helmet crackdown is now being viewed as ''the Phuket model'' for introduction in other provinces in Thailand where deaths and injuries relating to motorcycles are high.
While quality helmets will help to cut Phuket road deaths and injuries, it's the awareness of the need for safety that will alleviate the pressure of between 1000 and 1500 serious injuries each month on Phuket's overloaded hospital health system.
Hundreds of thousands of motorcycles from other provinces are also ridden on Phuket by people who come to the island looking for work. As families become more prosperous and are able to afford saloon cars, they usually keep the motorcycles for short trips.
Lack of an efficient, low-cost public transport network across the whole island adds to the pressure on roads and infrastructure. The budget for Phuket roads is supported by a national budget based on Phuket's 320,000 registered citizens - about half the number who actually live and work on Phuket.
Tourists are also likely to be targetted when the helmet campaign spreads to the west coast, where it's not unusual to see visitors riding bare-topped and bare-headed. Yet a motorcycle crash can bring a holiday to an abrupt end and inflict crippling economic damage, as well as injuries.
Phuketwan supports the Mothers or Motorcycles action group. (MoM). MoM seeks to improve road safety awareness and education and to increase the number of people who wear helmets on motorcycles.
UPDATE Phuket's crackdown on motorcycle riders without helmets spreads into the night. Based on results so far, the crackdown seems likely to be repeated in other provinces.
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yea Colonel Wanchai Eakporntip!!! Good job and thank for caring about the safety of the Phuket residents.
Also good news to hear that the Burmese can drive too!
Posted by Vfaye on July 30, 2010 12:05