A new law which took effect Saturday mandating that motorbike riders wear helmets appeared to be a huge success, as almost all drivers and passengers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City abruptly switched from going bareheaded to wearing helmets, reported dpa. Motorbikes are the most common form of transportation in Vietnam, carrying some 65 pre cent of passengers in urban areas. But riders have long insisted on going bareheaded, and as of Friday, only a small minority of drivers and passengers on the streets of Hanoi were wearing helmets. That appeared to have changed Saturday morning. "I've seen a few people today go by bareheaded, and I saw the police catch three or four and fine them," said motorbike taxi driver Dang Van Binh, 52. "But very few people are going bareheaded." Violators can be fined 150,000 Vietnamese dong, or about nine dollars, which is greater than the cost of the cheaper motorbike helmets. "According to Decree Number 32 of the government, from December 15, 2007, anyone riding a motorbike must wear a helmet on all roads, including people sitting on the rear seat and children," said Traffic Police officer Nguyen Ngoc Hieu, whose station at the entrance to Hanoi's Long Bien Bridge is among the busiest intersections in Hanoi. Hieu said authorities had doubled the number of traffic police officers on the streets this morning, but that still left just over 1,000 for all of Hanoi. "Actually, our force is still very thin," Hieu said. "But we will resolutely enforce the law." Vietnam's government has been struggling to cope with a high rate of traffic fatalities. Some 12,000 Vietnamese died in traffic accidents in the first 11 months of this year, with motorbikes causing 75 per cent of the accidents, according to Transportation Ministry statistics.
