ANYONE who can save lives where it was previously thought there could never be hope deserves the accolade of Phuketwan/Phuket Post Phuket Person of the Year 2010.
Colonel Wanchai Eakpornpit, the man behind Phuket's ''100% wear a helmet'' campaign, did more than just put helmets on heads for the first time.

The colonel, who is Superintendent at Phuket City Police Station, became the man with the plan. He challenged conventional thinking, and won.

He figured out a strategy for persuading thousands of reluctant people to wear helmets, and his innovative idea worked so well that his ''Phuket model'' is being adopted all over the island and elsewhere in Thailand.

If as a consequence one or two lives were saved, Colonel Wanchai's perseverance would be worthwhile. If thousands of lives are saved, as seems likely, the colonel deserves to be hailed as a local and national hero.

In proving the power of positive thinking, the colonel also proved that wearing a helmet is important, but what goes on in the head under the helmet is even more important.

While dedicating time in 2010 to his helmet campaign and to obliterating traffic blackspots on Phuket, the colonel also lead the investigation that solved Phuket's most sensational murder of the year.

In a case that began with a nameless, naked woman's body being found in a suitcase beside a Phuket roadside, Colonel Wanchai and his team pursued a ''bearded stranger'' and eventually captured American Ronald Fanelli, who killed bar hostess Wanpen Pianchai and is now pleading insanity.

Stetching Phuket's relatively meagre police resources further is always on the colonel's mind. His day begins with a visit to a Buddhist temple at 6am, and concludes after a badminton session late at night.

In between, anything could happen. Senior police on Phuket learn to expect the unexpected. Phuket has the capacity to be paradise one minute, perilous the next.

The great success of the helmet-wearing project lies in Colonel Wanchai's detective ability, the capacity to follow a few clues, to work out what needs to happen, and to carefully manage every stage.

First, he brought community leaders on board, turning them into role models by placing billboards of them wearing helmets in prominent places in local communities. Then he had them join a ceremony emphasising safety, giving away thousands of helmets to frontline motorcycle taxi riders.

At the same time, schools were persuaded to also spread the message, deducting points for students who failed to conform. Once the campaign began, the penalty for those who failed to comply was to attend a screening of a specially-made Phuket road safety movie.

From January 1, Phuket Police Commander Major General Pekad Tantipong and all Phuket stations will be applying the same techniques across the island.

There will be no instant transformation. Riders and their pillion passengers will dodge and weave and in some cases do their utmost to avoid wearing a helmet.

But attitudes and awareness are changing, thanks to the colonel. This is something many thought could never happen.

The helmet-wearing project is just one of 22 projects, large and small, that have occupied Colonel Wanchai when not solving crimes in 2010. In 2011, he plans on refining his idea of establishing ''I am a Camera'' volunteers to assist policing in Phuket City, especially after dark.

Perhaps the next most important on the colonel's long list is the introduction of mediation at Phuket City police station, where two rooms have been set aside so parties in dispute can negotiate.

The mediation process, expanded from the courts to Phuket police stations by former Chief Justice Varangkana Sujaritkul, is resolving major disputes that would otherwise drain the time of judges and police.

No doubt Phuket's ''100% helmet'' colonel will follow up a few more good ideas in 2011.