Police uncertain over fines for helmetless motorbike passengers

BY VONG SOKHENG AND ROBBIE COREY-BOULET

03 June 2009
A municipal order that went into effect Monday requires motorbike passengers to wear helmets, although the Land Traffic Law does not stipulate that helmetless passengers can be fined

ABOUT 75 motorbike passengers caught riding without hel­mets have been stopped and "educated" by Phnom Penh Traffic Police so far this week in response to a municipal order that went into effect Monday, the dep­uty chief of the Traffic Police told the Post Tuesday.

El Narin said 48 helmet­less drivers had been admin­istered fines of 3,000 riels (US$0.75) as part of an effort to ramp up compliance with the Land Traffic Law which stipulates that drivers - but not passengers are required to wear helmets.

Traffic Police, Chief Tin Pra­soeur said Monday that the decision to enforce helmet regulations was prompted by remarks delivered May 19 by Prime Minister Hun Sen, who in a speech at the Ministry of Interior proposed an amend­ment to the traffic legislation that would empower police to confiscate motorbikes ridden by drivers without helmets. Tin Prasoeur said he had launched a weeklong pilot program in which officers were warning passengers caught without helmets about the importance of comply­ing with the municipal order, which requires motorbike rivers to carry extra helmets and passengers to wear them.

He said officers would be­gin fining helmetless passen­gers next week, but El Narin told Tuesday that the Land Traffic Law does not include any mention of fines for pas­sengers, adding that officers would continue to "educate" passengers about the munici­pal order after the conclusion of the pilot program.

SANN Socheata, road safety program manager for Handi­cap International Belgium, said she had been coordinat­ing with the National Road Safety Committee to push for an amendment to the Land Traffic Law that would allow officers to fine helmetless pas­sengers.

She said Handicap Interna­tional "fully approved" of the municipal order, noting that the organization's survey data suggests that motorbike driv­ers and passengers sustain similar injuries in accidents.

Handicap International's most recent data, from Feb­ruary 2009, indicated that 56 percent of drivers wore hel­mets compared with only 11 percent of passengers, SANN Socheata said.

The organization's annual report for 2008, which has yet to be released, recorded 1,638 traffic fatalities, 1,107 of which occurred in accidents involving motorbikes, she said, add­ing that 70 to 80 percent of traffic fatalities involve head injuries.

Enforcing the rules

Ty Nath, a 40-year-old mo­torbike driver, said Monday that he was forced to pay 50,000 riels (about $12) after officers caught him driving without a helmet near Central Market. His two passengers weren't wearing helmets ei­ther.

He said the police did not bother to explain the specif­ics of the law or the municipal order."They just told me the fine was a compromise:' he said before the officers returned and interrupted an interview.

Asked about the incident Tuesday, El Narin said those who feel they have been treat­ed unfairly by traffic Police officers are encouraged to file a complaint.