VietNamNet Bridge – Fashionable, dirt-cheap helmets are flooding Hanoi’s pavements. All of them are not verified for quality and made by recycled plastic.

Dodgy helmets flood market and fill hospital beds

New helmet quality standards tipped to protect consumers

Fake stamps dent safe-helmet law

Nearly 90% of motorbike riders wear helmets incorrectly

Fashionable, colorful helmets on Pham Van Dong road. Their prices are from

VND30,000 to VND80,000/unit ($1.46-$3.9).

They are also offered by vendors on Pham Hung road.

Along Buoi and Lang roads.

The Ministry of Science and Technology in 2008 issued regulations on national standards for

helmets. Under the regulations, helmets that fail to meet standards are not

allowed to circulation in the market.

A helmet seller says that helmets come from various sources of supply.

Even families produce helmets, using plastics recycled from waste.

The production cost for such a helmet is only VND10-20,000 ($0.5-1).

A customer says: “I buy this cheap and nice helmet to cope with traffic police

Helmet sellers also offer helmet repair services.

Two young men--one did not wear helmet, stopped to buy a

VND30,000 helmet on Khuat Duy Tien road.

VNE