New Phuket vice governor opens youth road safety training for 80 students
New Phuket Vice Governor Romdon opened a youth safe driving programme for 80 students at Wichit Songkhram School, with officials aiming to reduce road crashes among children and teenagers.
Phuket Vice Governor Romdon officially opened the first batch of the Youth Safe Driving Training Project at Wichit Songkhram School on June 22, one week after taking up his new post in the province.
Speaking to the 80 students in the programme, Mr Romdon urged them to pay close attention to lessons on traffic laws and safe riding techniques, and said wearing a helmet should become a lifelong habit.
“The most important thing is to listen carefully to the instructors so you understand the traffic laws and how to ride safely,” he said. “Most importantly, every student must wear a helmet every time they ride a motorcycle or travel as a passenger.”
As part of the programme, the Phuket Provincial Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office distributed motorcycle helmets to all participating students in an effort to encourage regular helmet use and reduce the severity of injuries in road accidents.
Mr Romdon said the project was intended to instil safe driving habits from a young age so students could travel safely to school and in daily life.
Phuket Provincial Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office chief Warat Surawadee said children and teenagers remain among the province’s highest-risk groups for road fatalities because of limited driving experience, poor risk assessment and unsafe attitudes towards road use.
He said the training was organised by the Phuket Provincial Road Safety Command Centre to build safer behaviour through active learning.
The one-day programme includes three areas of instruction: traffic laws and road signs taught by officers from Phuket City Police, six “traffic vaccine” modules aimed at improving risk awareness and decision-making, and practical motorcycle riding skills delivered by instructors from the Honda Safe Driving Training Centre Phuket.
Officials said they hope the project will strengthen traffic discipline among young people, improve riding skills and help reduce road crashes involving children and teenagers in Phuket.
Mr Romdon was appointed one of Phuket’s two new vice governors in a Ministry of Interior reshuffle. Before moving to Phuket, he served as vice governor of Songkhla and held senior administrative roles with the Department of Provincial Administration and the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre. On his first day in office last week, he pledged to work with all sectors to help drive Phuket’s development and serve local residents.
