Viet women riders spice up their 'rice cookers'

Young motorcyclists customise helmets with pretty covers to look less stuffyBy Roger Mitton

Straits Time June 7, 2008

HANOI - YOUNG Vietnamese women have always loved to wear colourful bonnets, especially when tootling around town on their snappy motor scooters.

The stylish tradition, however, came under threat last December when the authorities began enforcing a new law that required all riders to wear crash helmets.

Suddenly, the young women riders no longer looked so pretty.

With drab, ungainly helmets perched on their heads, they made the streets of Vietnam seem much duller and less charming.

The girls certainly loathed the helmets, referring to them as 'rice cookers'. But they had to wear them - or face paying a hefty fine.

More than a quarter of Vietnam's population of 86 million own a motorbike, and the result is a death toll that reached 30 a day last year.

With the implementation of the new law on helmets, fatalities have dropped by 15 per cent, and injuries by 33 per cent. The downside, however, has been the rise of ugly 'rice cookers' replacing the attractive bonnets.

Fortunately, Vietnam's entrepreneurial spirit has stepped in, and stylised helmet covers shaped like pretty bonnets have sprouted up everywhere.
Said Ms Nguyen Ngoc Anh, a secretary at one of the foreign embassies in Hanoi: 'I'm proud to say I was among the first women to wear one. All my friends said: 'Oh, Ngoc Anh, you look so lovely in your new helmet'.
'They asked me where I got it and now they all have one.'

Usually made of textile or light plastic, the covers fit snugly over the top of the helmets and are secured with elastic or snap-on clips. They come in all manner of designs and shades, from shocking pink to Scottish tartan to kitschy polka dots with flouncy wide brims.

Said Ms Anh: 'Lots of women wear them now and they make the streets less stuffy and more beautiful.'
Not to be outdone, many men have also adopted cap-shaped helmet covers with camouflage designs, the stars and stripes of the American flag, or colours of their favourite football teams.

But some say the new trend is getting out of hand - and may even be dangerous.
Doctors have cautioned that certain helmet covers, especially those with stiff plastic brims, may increase the chance of injury in an accident.

Said Mr Duong Minh Man, director of Ho Chi Minh City's Cho Ray Hospital Brain Injury Department: 'Since March this year, we've had about 40 motorbike accident cases each day, and many have involved wounds caused by girls wearing brimmed helmets.'

But Vietnam's womenfolk certainly appear unconvinced by the warnings.
Said Ms Anh: 'To be honest, I don't like wearing a crash helmet, decorated or not, especially on hot, humid days. But life is hard and you have no choice. So it's better to look pretty, anyway.'