PATTAYA – An American man in Pattaya gained praise on social network TikTok after posting a video titled “One helmet can protect the future,” in which he flagged down motorcyclists with children travelling along the road at Jomtien Beach and distributed helmets to them.
The account “savvyrickbrown” posted this video and gained over 1.1 million views, with many people commenting and complimenting him.
A Khaosod reporter travelled to interview Mr. Rick Brown, a 57-year-old American national, about his inspiration for doing this activity. Mr. Brown disclosed that he experienced a bicycle accident during his childhood as some kids had cut his brakes. He was not wearing a helmet at the time, therefore he suffered a neck injury.
“I struggled with PTSD during my childhood for many years until I returned to a normal life.” Having experienced some terrifying things, I understand and care about children very much, so I want to undertake this action for children and society,” Brown stated.
The American man also stated that he lived in retirement in Thailand for a year and six months and had been regularly distributing helmets to children for the past six months with the purpose of doing something for society and ensuring children’s safety when travelling with parents. He frequently noticed Thai youngsters riding motorcycles without helmets, maybe due to monetary limitations.
Mr. Brown stated that he invests in the helmets himself. It’s a high-quality helmet that has passed safety tests. People on social media, those from his hometown in the United States, and those from other countries responded and generously donated to support him.
“My goal was to travel to various districts of Thailand and deliver over a million helmets. “I am willing to do things for Thai society because I love and like Thailand.” “Thai people interact well with each other,” he remarked.