Phuketwan spotted a police checkpoint in Phuket City last night after 10.30pm where a steady stream of motorcycle riders without helmets were being pulled over. Ninety percent of people during the day are wearing helmets so it makes sense for police to operate at night, when a much lower proportion wear helmets.


PHUKET'S helmet crackdown is likely to become a model for other parts of Thailand, the Deputy Interior Minister, Taworn Senniem, said today on a visit to the island.

He said he had been impressed with what he'd seen.The concept established by Phuket authorities and police was worth adopting in other provinces if it helped to cut the high number of deaths and injuries throughout Thailand.

Khun Taworn said he was especially keen to have helmets worn by all motorcyclists. His younger brother died in a crash in 1982, and his brother wasn't wearing a helmet.

Coming from Phuket airport to talk to officers at Phuket City police station today, he noted about 10 people not wearing helmets. This was a low figure, he thought, compared to a journey of similar length in Bangkok.

Safety helmet schemes had not worked in the past because people had decided not to cooperate with police, he said. The ''Phuket model'' seemed more succesful.

He said the sooner the campaign spread to other parts of Phuket, the more lives would be saved.

Khun Taworn told the people watching the compulsory film today because they had been caught not wearing helmets that the cost of the helmet was insignificant compared to the value of a life.

He was told that 35 percent of the money for helmet fines and other fines as well went direct to the local police and was not forwarded to Bangkok as part of consolidated revenue.

A 24-year-old woman died early on Tuesday morning in a crash outside the Royal Phuket Marina in Phuket City. She was not wearing a helmet. He husband, who was wearing a helmet, survived.

The helmet crackdown is expected to reduce deaths on Phuket City roads and later on other parts of the island. Injuries usually amount to between 1000 and 1500 each month.

The compulsory ''safe riding'' movie, made specifically for Phuket audiences, is expected to create greater awareness of road safety and reduce the high injury toll.

However, Phuketwan has noted that the figure of 90 percent of riders wearing helmets during daylight hours reverts to just 10 percent at night when riders think there are no police making checks.

The owner of a helmet shop close to Phuket City police station reported that sales had increased from 10 a day to 30 or 40 a day since the crackdown began on July 1. Quality helmets come in sizes to suit children as young as one year old.

The crackdown in Phuket City is expected to be repeated in Kathu and Patong next, where tourists will also be obliged to wear helmets, with Thalang to follow.

Phuketwan supports Mothers or Motorcycles (MoM) an action group that aims to reduce deaths and injuries on Phuket's roads.