Children must wear helmets to ensure safety, but many parents hesitate with their decisions to make children wear helmets, says a recent survey.

A mother takes her children to school by motorbike. A survey shows many parents in Ha Noi don't make their children wear crash helmets. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Tung

The Government's Decision 34, which became effective on April 2, 2010, stipulates that children that are six and older must wear helmets when they are passengers on a motorbike.

A survey was carried out in February this year by the Ha Noi National University in co-operation with the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation, which involved the participation of more than 1,000 students from three primary schools in Ha Noi, Da Nang and HCM City. According to the survey, half of the students wear helmets when they are on motorbikes.

Le Lan Huong, one of the researchers, said that parents often don't make their children wear helmets when they are driving a short distance.

According to the survey, students also do not like wearing helmets.

Le Quynh Anh, a second grader at Thinh Quang Primary School, said that she did not want to wear helmet, although her parents had bought her one.

"I feel heavy, hot and itchy whenever I wear it," she said.

Nguyen Minh Hue, mother of a seven-year-old girl in Dong Da District, said she rarely makes her daughter wear a helmet because it was too heavy.

"I'm afraid that my daughter's neck will be affected," she said.

According to Dr Nguyen Thanh Mai at Bach Mai Hospital, there was no research that confirmed that helmets would affect children that were older than six years of age.

"Their bone system is stable enough to handle the helmets," she said.

Meanwhile, Le Kim Oanh, principal at the To Vinh Dien Primary School in Dong Da District, said one-third of students in her school wear helmets.

"Most students' parents in my school are poor and they do not have enough money to buy good helmets for their children," she said.

According to the principal, the average income of a parent at her school is about VND1 million (US$50) a month. But the parents said that they would rather let their children not wear anything than wear sub-standard helmets.

"Every week students study a lesson about traffic safety, and the school regularly disseminates information about the issue, but things haven't improved," said Oanh.

Moreover, traffic police often do not stop a motorbike if a child is not wearing a helmet.

Nguyen Ba Duan, a police officer in Tay Ho District, said he rarely fined parents if their children were not wearing helmets.

According to regulations, violators should be fined VND200,000 (US$10), but Duan often let's parents off with a warning.

Nguyen Van Thuan, director of the Ministry of Transport's Traffic Safety Department, said if the State wanted to ensure that more children wear helmets, officials had to first address the quality of helmets that were being sold.

"If we have standard helmets, parents will use them," he said.

He also said that better information campaigns needed to be created. The department also called for more co-operation between police and relevant bodies to strengthen their management and enforcement capacities.

Source: VNS