After two years of planning and development, women from Vietnam’s Thai ethnic community can finally enjoy the protection of helmets catered specifically to their traditional customs.
According to Tuoi Tre, the National Traffic Safety Committee unveiled the first batch of helmets tailored to the unique hairstyle of Thai women on Monday.
Back in 2015, the committee had previously launched a campaign back in 2015 to develop a special kind of helmet that takes into account the unique hairstyle and traditions of Thai women. Women of the Black Thai ethnicity typically wear a high bun after getting married, and according to Thai tradition, removing the bun is viewed as a disrespectful act towards their spouse. This poses a problem during commutes, as helmets are not manufactured to accommodate a 10-centimeter-tall hairstyle.
Some Thai women attempt to wear normal helmets over their bun, which causes the safety headgear to fall off frequently. Others simply decide to forgo wearing a helmet altogether.
“The current ordinary crash helmets just fail to protect these women,” Khuat Viet Hung, deputy chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, told Tuoi Tre in a separate article.
Fast forward two years, and the special helmet is now available. Its design is the brainchild of the Ministry of Science and Technology, which decided to add extra space on top of normal helmets to make room for married Thai women’s high buns.
Following the launch of the new headgear, the committee distributed 4,000 such helmets to Thai enclaves in Dien Bien, Son La, Lai Chau, Yen Bai, Hoa Binh, Nghe An and Thanh Hoa provinces.
[Photo via Tuoi Tre]
