Huynh Long of the National Traffic Safety Committee, established three years ago to help cope with the problem. But he will help promote a campaign encouraging helmet use, part of a pet project by U.S. Ambassador Pete Peterson. The U.N. Children's Fund estimates about 50,000 children die each year from traffic accidents, drowning, poisoning, falls, electrocution and other hazards. Getting young people to use them in the heat and humidity has been a challenge. A new law requiring helmets on some major roads appears to have had little impact.
Violators get only warnings from police.
Surviving Vietnam's roads requires a good horn, good brakes - and lots of good luck. About 95 percent of the traffic is on two wheels, dominated by small motorbikes that are perfect to putt along at under 35 mph and roll up onto the sidewalk to park. At least a few motorbikes or bicycles run every stoplight. People make left turns from the far right and vice versa. Youths weave dangerously through congestion, missing other vehicles by fractions of an inch.