A special motorbike helmet has been designed and made for women of the Thai ethnic group to accommodate their traditional huge hair buns while protecting them from possible head injuries.
New kind of helmet
The helmet was released on October 31 by Hi Tech Co. during a conference on road safety for the northwest provinces.
Khuat Viet Hung, vice chairman of the National Traffic Committee said that, since 2010, there were 10,122 accidents, resulting in 10,936 injuries and 4.968 deaths. The number of accidents, fatality and injured people in the northwest accounted for 5.11 percent, 8.6 percent and 5.3 percent respectively of the national tally.
The special helmet is part of an attempt to improve road safety, with a bubble on the top of the helmet to accommodate the hair buns.
Hung said the helmets will be distributed to ethnic women in six provinces for a "test drive" and the company will survey users to make adjustments in the design if necessary, without compromising safety.
New helmet introduced for ethnic women
Hung said other helmet makers were working on similar designs and the Ministry of Science and Technology is studying whether road regulations need to be changed to allow the modified helmets for wider use.
All motorbike and motor scooter users in Vietnam are required by law to wear crash helmets, but Thai minority's culture requires them to wear their hair in an intricate top-knot in public, which made standard helmets useless as a means of protection.