Parents to face fines if children ride bikes without helmets

Children to be reprimanded for not wearing helmets, parents fined

Lieutenant Colonel Do Thanh Binh, deputy head of the traffic police department, said they will raise people's awareness and publicise the new laws from April 6 to April 9 before applying the fines on April 10. Traffic police will pull vehicles over to reprimand and warn riders, especially around schools.

The police will also work with schools to reprimand students who are caught without helmets. "We will make records of children without helmets and send the list to schools and families," said Binh.

Violators will be fined from VND100,000 to VND200,000.

"Our foremost priority is children's safety. The kids will be reprimanded and their parents or whoever is carrying them will be fined," Binh said.

Electric bikes have become popular among Vietnamese students for their convenience and advertising suggests they do not need to wear a helmet, though hard hats have been law since 2009 because such bikes can reach a speed of 25kmh. Many have flaunted the rules until now.

Students on electric bicycles without helmets

The World Bank in Hanoi said 94 percent of adults comply with helmet laws, but only 23.5 percent of children wear helmets when travelling.

Health Ministry statistics show 1,800 to 1,900 children die each year in traffic accidents, some 20 percent of total child deaths, and 50 percent of those were because the child was not wearing a helmet.