LAW
It is mandatory that any person aged six years and above wear a helmet on all public roads in Vietnam. We don’t like foreigners in our home countries not abiding our laws. We should respect this law here.
ROLE MODEL
As adults we are roles models to our children. As expats we are also role models to the Vietnamese children and to a degree also the adults. None of us would want to be indirectly responsible for an easily avoided tragedy.
RESPONSIBILITY
So many times since living here I’ve heard the throw away line. IF I CHOOSE NOT TO WEAR A HELMET I’M ONLY HURTING MYSELF.
The role model responsibility aside this could be true in part. If you have absolutely no friends or family or anyone who cares about you at all then yes only anyone else involved in the accident and the staff who need to provide your ongoing care and possible rehabilitation will be adversely affected. You in fact may be the only person not affected. Of course once injured if you are prepared to lie to the insurance company that you were riding within the law and they believe you the money they spend attempting to fix your head also adds to all our policies. Thanks!!
Helmets – Reasons not to wear one!
IT’S TOO HOT!
Helmet design has made incredible progress over recent years. The non effectual hats aside a decent open or full face helmet today is well vented and made from materials that draw the heat away. The liners are also easily removed and washed to keep it fresh.
IT MESSES UP MY HAIR!
Really? The one’s that come up with this little morsel I just feel sorry for. So does the bitumen I assure you.
I WEAR ONE WHEN I GO OUT OF THAO DIEN!
This is the most uneducated reason I could think of and if this is you for goodness sake come up with something better at least. Any intelligent person you tell that just put you in their special friends box. Where does the physics change as you enter Thao Dien? At what point does the bitumen, concrete and taxi’s get softer?
I ONLY RIDE SLOW!
Here’s an experiment that I want you to think about but not try. Walk as fast as you can into a concrete wall with your head down! Yes exactly! You can be killed or worse a burden on your friends and family indefinitely at very low speed. Even the most careful rider has no control over the behavior of other road users..
THE POLICE DON’T COME INTO THAO DIEN SO IT MUST BE SAFE!
Only anyone new to town would come up with this. Thao Dien is full of influential heads of military and police from the North. The police do not want to deal with them or foreigners particularly. I suspect they are instructed to show a very minimal presence in the area.
IT WILL ONLY GET STOLEN
For sure if you leave a good helmet sitting on the bike unattended eventually it will get stolen. If you can’t take it with you we have solutions for locking helmets to bikes.
I have been quite pro-active all my adult life in encouraging particularly friends and family to wear the best motorcycle helmet they can afford.
Horrified when i moved here in 2012 I started Kids Lids to help raise awareness of the un-necessary danger children were being exposed to.
In 2015 we started to search for the best helmet options available. We managed to find some that were certainly better than what was previously available and now we have over a billion dong of stock and proud to be able to offer an amazing range of certified helmets at affordable prices.
Please if you ride or go as a pillion passenger (particularly on a Grab), get a decent helmet. I don’t care where you get it just get one and ensure its correctly fitted. Encourage your friends and family to do the same as it is you who may have to live through the sadness.
IF YOU DON’T THINK YOUR HEAD IS WORTH A DECENT HELMET, YOU’RE PROBABLY RIGHT!!