(Photo: VNA)

Honda Vietnam General Director Toshio Kuwahara said the programme deals with the fact that most of Vietnamese children don’t wear helmets when they travel on motorbikes with their parents. Nguyen Van The, Transport Minister and deputy head of the National Committee on Traffic Safety, said: “Agencies and local authorities need to quickly respond to this program. It is essential to make sure each child has a helmet that meets safety standards”.

Ten years after the mandatory helmet law was passed, more than 90 percent of adults obey the law, and the number of annual traffic fatalities has fallen below 9,000. But helmet use by children remains low, despite a growing rate of child injuries caused by traffic accidents.

About 2,000 Vietnamese children are killed in traffic accidents every year, mainly due to a lack of public awareness of the importance of helmets, according to Minister The.