Motorbike fashion vs. safety in Vietnam

Anyone who has traveled in Vietnam has had to deal with the sometimes unsettling need to cross a street amidst a flock of motorbikes. With increasing numbers of motorists, and a chaotic stew of bikes, autos and pedestrians all trying to share the same road space, the Vietnamese penchant for not wearing helmets has become a public safety issue. The government is trying to legislate the wearing of helmets on motorbikes, but young Vietnamese are apparently resisting. Why? Helmets aren’t fashionable. More in this piece in Time magazine.

Thousands of motorbikes swerving at high speed and near-misses at every corner can make the roaring streets of Hanoi a terrifying place for the uninitiated. But for Vietnamese teenagers like Trinh Thanh Van, the motorized maelstrom is a party on wheels. It’s 8 p.m. on a weeknight, and 19-year-old Van is out with two girlfriends on the back of her red Honda Wave, darting through ever-shifting streams of motorbikes as they look for new friends. It’s a typical evening of luon lo (literally “wandering”), the nightly ritual where young Vietnamese cruise, flirt and flaunt their finest fashions.

But there’s one traditional biker accessory Van and her stylish friends avoid: crash helmets. They aren’t alone: Less than 10% of riders wear helmets in a country where motorbikes make up 90% of road traffic. “For us, helmets aren’t fashionable,” admits Van’s friend Ha, 19, during a roadside chat. Van reluctantly agrees: “If girls have to wear helmets, no one will see their beautiful hairstyles and makeup.”

Soon, though, Vietnam’s motorcyclists won’t have a choice. A new law is to take effect on Dec. 15 that requires motorbike riders and passengers to wear helmets on the road. The law marks a new attempt by the communist authorities to effect a huge societal change — a similar effort failed five years ago. But with 13,000 Vietnamese having died in traffic accidents last year alone, 80% of them from head injuries, the purpose of the new law is to save lives…

Despite the danger, however, most Vietnamese have resisted pleas to wear helmets, dubbing them “rice cookers” and complaining that they’re too hot, uncomfortable and even that they block the peripheral vision crucial to navigating split-second swerves.

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