Starting June 1 , Thai police will launch a crackdown on motorcyclists and passengers without helmets .
Violators face a fine of 2,000 baht (around 54 euros), compared to 500 baht (around 14 euros) previously.
Objective: to save lives
Thai police check foreign motorbike drivers in Phuket. Photo: The Phuket News
This measure is part of a wider campaign to reduce road accidents and improve road discipline.
Lieutenant General Nitithorn Jintakanon, head of the task force for improving the image of the traffic police, announced the launch of the "Safer Roads Project" on Tuesday, May 27.
It aims to raise awareness among users about road safety and to ensure more efficient traffic management.
This initiative provides for increased monitoring in high-risk areas, particularly around schools and educational establishments.
Provincial police have been instructed to identify key roads where traffic violations or accidents are common and focus enforcement efforts there, Lt. Gen. Nitithorn said.
Under this directive, motorcycle drivers and passengers must wear helmets at all times while riding.
In the event of a repeat offense, the amount of the fine could be doubled.
Be careful if you take a motorcycle taxi that does not have a helmet for the passenger!
Rules that have been poorly enforced so far
A tourist rides without a helmet on the rear wheel of his motorbike on a road in Phuket on Sunday, April 27, 2025. Photo: Chalong Police
In practice, many motorcyclists in Thailand, both local and tourist, ride without helmets, often without being bothered by the police.
The checks, generally one-off, are perceived by users as operations intended more to generate fines (or bribes) than to truly enforce the law.
Result: helmet wearing remains largely ignored, despite alarming statistics.
A risk with serious consequences
Motorcycle accident in Thailand. Photo: Phuket Provincial Administrative Organization (PPAO)
Thai roads are among the most dangerous in the world, especially for two-wheelers.
See: Road accidents in Thailand cause 48 deaths per day
Motorcyclists account for the majority of deaths and injuries in road accidents.
And in the event of an accident without a helmet, insurance companies generally refuse to cover the medical costs, which are sometimes astronomical in private hospitals, to which paramedics refer injured foreigners.
See also:
What you need to know before renting a motorbike in Thailand
10 Tips for Riding a Motorbike in Thailand
Motorcycle license in Thailand: how to get it?
In Thailand, the smallest accident costs a fortune and GoFundMe pays the bill
Tourist's double punishment in Thailand after motorcycle accident
Source: Bangkok Post
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3 comments
As the article rightly points out, the main purpose of helmet checks is to supplement the income of the police officers who carry out random checks during busy times and in areas, regions and cities with high tourist density, as foreign tourists renting motorbikes and riding without a license, helmet or insurance are the ideal prey for this type of scam and corruption.
I doubt that in my remote village, several dozen kilometers from any town of more than 10,000 inhabitants and more than 300 kilometers from the main tourist city in the north of the country, the police will begin reinforced and systematic checks on market days or during public gatherings, local festivals or other popular events!!!
And as time goes by, I fear that this initiative will fall into disrepair, whereas, if it were implemented effectively, it would at least have the possibility of reducing in the long term accidents with head trauma, serious physical and neurological injuries for life...
But that's another story and the future will tell us if these new directives are applied in the long term and will (finally) succeed in reducing fatal accidents in Thailand (between 23 and 28,000 per year) of which more than 70% are 2-wheelers!!!
Given the chronic indiscipline of Thai people (and my partner is one of them, despite two "accidents" in the last 10 years!!!) in respecting the rules whatever they may be and the laxity of the police combined with the difficulty that the police have in moving their "As" from their office chair, I firmly believe that this action will only be ephemeral, or even non-existent in many rural regions of the country and that unfortunately, it will have little impact on the statistics of road accidents in 2025!
See you here in January/February 2026 to learn about these statistics, which are recurring year after year, but which do not put any more pressure on the brains of Thai motorized drivers...
It's well known that motorcycle accidents are for other people... I ride perfectly well, so no need for a helmet!!!
It's like some drivers who don't turn on their car's headlights at dusk because they think it wears out the battery, they can see the road very well (50 meters away) in the dark, and the idea that it's important, not only to see the road over a long distance, but also and above all, to be seen from a distance by other drivers who pass you or are following you, doesn't even cross their minds...
You said "neuron" what is that "neuron", is it a new game?
A new AI application?
It was about time!!
Even if it won't change anything in itself, perhaps they should also wear gloves and respect pedestrian crossings, but we can still dream about that.
In Chiang Mai, most people riding scooters or motorbikes mostly wear masks under their chins and sandals on their feet, plus three or four people on the two-wheeler and sometimes even the whole family, with of course the iPhone in their hands if it's not a drink or a sandwich, Thai disciplines, a non-existent thing.