HANOI – Nearly 90% of the 540 people surveyed were found wearing substandard helmets which cannot protect them from traumatic brain injuries in case of traffic accidents, according to research conducted in partnership between AIP Foundation and the Hanoi University of Public Health through the “Safety Delivered” program, supported by the UPS Foundation, and released during an event on October 7.
A total of 540 child and adult motorcycle helmets were collected and exchanged in HCMC and the northern province of Thai Nguyen to serve the quality research study.
Nearly 26% of the surveyed helmets were identified as “cap helmets”, which lack the foam lining needed to adequately protect wearers’ heads. These cap helmets do not meet the satisfactory quality requirements, as stipulated in the National Technical Regulation on helmets for motorcyclists.
Besides this, only 10.5% of the 540 helmets were able to successfully pass impact absorption tests in accordance with a regulation called QCVN2: 2008/BKHCN.
In other words, 89.5% of the surveyed helmets are substandard helmets that would fail to significantly reduce the risk of brain injury or skull fracture for a user in a road crash.
Khuat Viet Hung, vice chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, said, “The research findings mentioned above show that using poor quality helmets leads to a higher risk of fatalities in road crashes. Although the number of helmets tested remains low, the research can still conclude on the quality of helmets in the market today.”
In addition, the research also serves as evidence for government agencies to further investigate and closely monitor policies to improve their work on the quality of motorcycles, bicycles and electric bike helmets in Vietnam, Hung added.
Data released at the event also showed that it was proven in most of countries around the world that wearing a quality helmet can reduce the chance of death by 42% and of serious injuries by 69%.
Although Vietnam has successfully maintained the rate of wearing helmets quite high for years, the use of substandard helmets is still one of the underlying problems in following the Government’s regulations on wearing helmets.
Mirjam Sidik, CEO of AIP Foundation, said, “Through our research and advocacy efforts, we aim to ensure that choosing quality helmets is the norm in Vietnam, protecting vulnerable road users on every journey they take.”
The event was jointly organized by the National Traffic Safety Committee, the AIP Foundation, and the UPS Foundation.
By Van Ly
