Compulsory use of crash helmets: generating more vocations than conscience awakenings

With 2008 coming to an end, crash helmets seem to have set out to invade Cambodia's little stalls and shops in a most unusual manner... The precious helmets can be found here sitting next to brand new mobile phones or there awaiting customers on the shelves of the corner shop. But that is without even mentioning all those who decided overnight they would become helmet retailers and sell these goods right on their doorstep, on the city's major roads. But the mass appearance of helmets in the country is not the result of a sudden awakening about the dangers of the road – in 2007, road accidents claimed 4 lives and injured 70 people every day – but truly the reflection of a fear of police encounters... On January 1st 2009, wearing a helmet will be compulsory for drivers in charge of two and three-wheeled motorised vehicles and trailers, but for the time being, these hard hats are selling like hot cakes...



According to a study carried out in June 2008 in Phnom Penh by the Handicap International organisation (HI), 24% of motorbike drivers used a helmet. And at the beginning of December, according this time to municipal police sources, 47% of them used a helmet when only 8% wore one back in 2004... A recent HI poll revealed that 60% of people living in Phnom Penh were in favour of the mandatory decision.


Skyrocketing helmet sales
Chhay Kim, who repairs motorbikes in the Bati district, Takeo province, jumped on the opportunity of a visit to his relatives in Phnom Penh to buy a helmet “because they are no retailers near my home”. Just as it is the case for many other two-wheeled vehicle drivers interviewed on that occasion, the news about the implementation of the law came to him via the broadcasting media and posters pinned up in various places in town as a warning to the population.

The shop assistant at the imposing “Hêt Heang” helmet shop on Mao-Tse-Toung Boulevard does not know where to look and give advice, overwhelmed by the flow of customers. A short break taken a couple of hours later eventually allowed the busy salesman to talk to us. “Sales have been skyrocketing since the beginning of December. We doubled our sales!”


Every day, the shop sees some twenty helmets going back home with a new owner. The salesman did not mention the exact quantity of helmets ordered by smaller retailers from all places in the country who find it hard to meet demand. His helmets are made in Thailand or Taiwan - “the best ones, they bear the 'ISO' safety label” - but also in Vietnam and Cambodia - “the worst ones since they do not meet safety standards”, he said, determined. Depending on its type, a helmet will generally cost between US$8 and US$20, but this price goes up to US$100 when it comes to integral motocross helmets.


Opportunities for trade
Chhit Chan Sithear usually sells mobile phones, but the product does not seem to be very popular at the moment. Watching his stock getting dusty, he decided to store a few crash helmets in his boutique. “My shop is located on an important junction of Phnom Penh and a few yards away from the spot where the police are usually stationed! It is such a great opportunity for me! Think about it: when the cops arrest those who drive without a helmet, they will send them straight to my shop!”, the young man foresaw, all excited about the coming situation.

People come from every corner of the country to buy helmets. The Ly family organised an outing: parents, children and aunties made the trip from Kampot... The mother wants to go back home with 200 helmets, “all types and all qualities”, to sell them on her doorstep, “right in the middle of town”. “I have never sold helmets before, I run an electrical accessories shop, but I am ready to adapt to demand!” Her husband added that “only 30% of motorbike drivers wore a helmet in Kampot”. There is definitely a market there...


Clarity needed as to the advantage of wearing a helmet?
Kheng Sokhom already used a pollution mask. Now, he has happily topped up his garb with a crash helmet. A moto-taxi of ten years, he says he is the sad witness of a growing number of “increasingly serious” road accidents. “Yes, this is a safety reflex...”, he argued with conviction, before acknowledging that without a helmet, the police would give him a hard time and prevent him from exercising his profession in peace. He has been preparing himself to the event for five months now, and managed to raise 60,000 riels (US$15) in savings, a small fortune for him, which explains why he did not buy another helmet after having his first and only one stolen.


“Helmets are useful, they protect your eyes from the dust! We have now gone into the dry season, it's just the right time to buy one!”, Roeun Ren explained. He works part-time on building sites and works as a moto-taxi the rest of the time. After teasing him with a few questions, he finally admitted: “Alright, if I buy one, it's also because of that new law...” Being caught without a helmet on the head will result in a 3,000 riel fine and a moralising speech...


Protest
“In Cambodia, people only wear a helmet because they fear being fined, road safety is the least of our worries! We simply imitated our neighbouring countries where wearing a helmet is already compulsory. That's fine, but then we should think about making helmets in this country, it would at least create a few jobs for Cambodians, rather than importing them!”, says for his part Sobol, a civil servant in his thirties who swears he will not buy a helmet. But we still bumped into him in a helmet shop... “I came to buy one, but that's for my wife and my kid!”


The civil servant reckoned the new law would complicate the lives of those who cannot really afford it. Buying a helmet has serious consequences on his own budget and he suggested that helmets should be given away to people for free. “They want people to respect traffic regulation rules, but what happens to wealthy and powerful people who violate them as they like without ever fearing to be arrested?”

Not at all convinced by the initiative, he told us the story of a young motorbike driver who died although he was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. “His head was protected, sure, but his body got run over... The helmet is not a miracle solution!”

The helmet: useful... if well-chosen and used
Meas Chandy, in charge of the road safety scheme at Handicap International, expressed his delight to see the government take such a measure and gave his recommendations: “An NGO working together with us recently sent to the United States 12 different helmets bought on Cambodian markets to have them assessed. The study showed that only one met the 10 points chosen to represent the international standards! Too many of the helmets sold in Cambodia are poor quality products. When you cut them into two, you either realise that the manufacture of the polystyrene is poor, or that it has been replaced with very thin foam... I advise drivers to buy other helmets with the 'ISO' safety label on them. It ensures their quality. Also, they should buy a helmet that suits the size of their head, otherwise they move around and do not offer good protection”.

Buying a helmet is one thing, but using it safely and properly is another. “Too often, motorbike drivers use their helmets in the wrong way. They customise it, for instance, by decorating it with stickers or painting it, when their surface should remain smooth. The light colours should be kept on them, or at least a stripe, so that car drivers can see them in the night. Others do not even fasten their chin strap, which makes the helmet absolutely useless...”, Meas Chandy pointed out.

Alarming figures
Facing the unconvinced ones, Meas Chandy admitted that a helmet could not protect a person 100% “but could reduce risks”. Statistics prove him right, since 80% of road accidents see victims involved in violent impacts to the head. The representative suggested his fellow-citizens reduce and control their speed.. “Buying a helmet represents a cost, but it is much less than the costs of a medical intervention after a road accident!”

The Prime Minister stressed on December 22nd that the first cause of unnatural death in the country was road accidents, followed by HIV/AIDS and accidents related to landmines. According to the National Secretariat for Road Security, the number of dead on the roads has tripled since 2004. Cambodia stands out among the ASEAN countries with its highest number of road accidents. 46% of the injuries and deaths in Cambodia are caused by road accidents, when 63% of those who died in a road accident are motorbike drivers.

On January 1st, the road police forces will be stationed everywhere in the capital city to hunt disobedient drivers, as pointed out by Him Yan, deputy municipal police commissioner. But... will policemen wear a helmet themselves? “Yes, we will; we received a few from Handicap International and the NGO JRP! As for the other police units, I don't know whether they are as lucky as we are...”
©John Vink / Magnum