VietNamNet Bridge – The number of young people not wearing helmets while driving has recently increased despite police efforts, according to Ha Van Tuan, deputy head of Ha Noi Traffic Police Team No 1.


Many students violate traffic law when they drive motorbikes without helmets around Ha Noi's streets. (Photo: VNS)
City police fined nearly 10,000 people for not wearing helmets during June, an increase of 2,000 compared to the previous month, 80 per cent of whom were aged between 18 and 35, Tuan said.

During the same month, the Ha Noi Traffic Police called on communal authorities and universities to co-operate with them on bringing culprits to justice, receiving only 100 confirmative replies thus far, Tuan added.

The police have assigned 40 mobile teams to patrol city streets, especially during the evening, in order to apprehend those repeatedly not wearing helmets.

In explaining why she failed to wear a helmet, Pham Phuong Loan, a student from the Ha Noi Open University, said that she had curly hair and did not want it to be damaged.

"I put my helmet on whenever I see the police and take it off when the police go away," she said.

Loan added that she had never been fined, often begging the police to ignore her violation due to the fact that she was a student and could not afford it.

Hoang Quoc Duc, from the Ha Noi University of Science and Technology, said it took him only five minutes to travel from his house to the university, which makes wearing a helmet a waste of time.

Although Duc has been fined four or five times, he still prefers to leave his helmet at home.

To Minh Huong, a lecturer at the Viet Nam National University, said that while slogans based on traffic laws were hung all over the university, students seemed to pay no attention to them.

"Raising student's awareness is the most important thing in making them wear helmets," Huong said.

According to Huong, the university has gone as far as issuing warnings, but without much effect.

"We will have to consider alternative measures such as fining or suspending them from study for a week," she said.

Police officer Tuan said that the fine of VND150,000-200,000 (US$7.5 - 10), while not low, was not high enough to deter students.

"City police have to issue stricter punishments such as seizing motorbikes for 15 days, a month or even longer," he said, adding that universities needed to be informed if the relevant perpetrators were students.

The Ha Noi Police Department had called on district police to strengthen patrols in their areas in order to punish drivers without helmets, Tuan confirmed.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News