FOR THE EXPAT IN ALL OF US! ISSUE 468 2nd March 2018
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but seriously...
hua hin police announce crackdown on crash helmets
•Long • term expats and some tourists in Hua Hin have been left scratching their heads in bemusement hua hin
this week after an announcement made last Friday by police chief Sitthichai Srisophacharoenrat that Hua Hin police would get tough on motorcyclists not wearing helmets in the holiday town. The reason for the bemusement? The crackdown will begin this week with helmet-less motorcyclists getting just a warning, but from May 1st they would be stopped and fined; however this is not a new law and it is already a frequent occurrence in Hua Hin for on the spot fines to be issued to motorcyclists, although reports of the amount of the fine does seem to vary between a fairly common 200 baht up to around 500 baht, and in Bangkok it was raised to 1000 baht in December 2017. Another confusing aspect of the announcement, which was made at the launch of the “Safe Riding 100% Helmet Use” campaign, and attended by community leaders, police, military, local businesses and the general public, is that there did not appear to be any mention of motorcycle passengers, and yet Thai law specifically states that anyone riding on a motorbike must wear a crash helmet; while at the same time official photos from the event show a policeman pillion passenger not wearing a helmet, just his uniform beret. If the campaign is truly going to be pursued seriously, then it is welcome given the numbers of people who die from or suffer head injuries on Thailand’s roads, but another fundamental issue may cause a problem for tourists and resident expats, which is that motorbike taxis frequently do not have a helmet for their passenger, and even when they do they are not big enough for many foreigners to wear. AWOL believes that the passenger would be responsible for any fine that might be forthcoming, so if you want to be both safe and avoid a fine, only use the taxis that can provide a helmet, or bring your own.