A Survey on the Safety of Protective Helmets for Public Motorcyclists along the BTS Sky Train Line

Abstract

The majority of motorbike fatalities are caused by injuries to the head and neck. Even wearing a protective helmet can stop these kinds of major accidents, numerous fatalities are nevertheless reported when wearing one. The objective of the study was to examine the safety aspects of the helmets worn by local motorcyclists along the Bangkok Transit System (BTS) sky train route. A creatively designed survey form and a purposive sampling technique were used to collect general information from a sample of 120 motorcyclists. The traits and helmet-wearing behaviours associated with safety were evaluated. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics. The results of this study revealed that most of the samples were male (92.5%), aged 36-45 years old (32.5%), engaged in motorcycle taxiing as their main occupation (79.2%), and had working experience between 1-5 years (36.7%). All of 120 protective helmets were examined and 70.8% of them did not meet the assessment criteria; 80 helmets (66.7%) ever dropped; 54 (45.0%) had a scratch on the visor that obscures vision; 36 (30.0%) were utilyzed over 5 years; 13 (10.8%) had no visor; and 9 (7.5%) modified or furnished from the original. This information is useful in campaigning to educate motorcyclists as a guideline for assessing the safety conditions of the equipment leading to increased awareness of traffic safety in the road, and thereby reducing the potential accidents.