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Panadda Chamnansuk, a lecturer from Kasetsart University's Faculty of Social Science, told a meeting of the National Health Foundation and the Accident Prevention Network her interviews with youngsters showed that motorcycles were tools that gave "marginalised youths" an identity.

With a downpayment of just Bt1, motorcycles could turn youths whom no one cared about or noticed into charming young men who attracted the attention of many girls, she said.

"These 'marginalised' boys use motorcycles as an identity-creating tool. Whilst they are a marginalised group in the public transport system, they are the 'important customers' for motorcycle manufacturers, as seen from many brochures focusing on them," she said.

Parents also contributed to kids becoming even more marginalised, especially mothers who could not resist children's pleas for a motorcycle as a gift, Panadda said.

But she said: "Motorcycles that mums bought for their kids at Mathayom 1 are indeed not a gift but a danger to themselves and society."

The mothers were, thus, a factor in transforming kids into street racers or reckless law-breaking riders, she said.

Some mothers thought buying motorbikes as a better option compared to paying for public transport fees, she said, but instead of coming home early the kids could come home later at night. Youths often decorated their motorcycles and joined in activities such as playing snooker or joining a gang, she said.

In the end, the youths might be involved in road accidents, crime, and create weakstructured families based on casual sex, which also posed a risk of HIV infection, she said.

To tackle the problem of "marginalised kids", she urged the government to develop a better public transport system because the current one was unsafe. And Thai society needed to get rid of the culture in which people were not concerned with things they were not involved in.

She urged parents to coach children about safety and try to stop youths riding motorbikes fast.

Another speaker was a former street racer from Sakhon Nakhon. Weerapong Saennarong, 24, said he used to ride a motorbike at 130-140 kilometres an hour but later only rode at 60kmh after he got older and attended a virtue camp led by Khon Kaen's Khao Suan Kwang police chief Pol Col Anont Namprasert.

"Before, I liked to ride a motorbike to show off to girls and join races for money to fund my motorbike modifying and decoration," he said. "I had some accidents too. I only graduated at Mathayom 3 because I was too preoccupied with riding my motorbike."

Another former street racer, 19yearold Wannachai Khunsit said he used to ride as fast as 150kmh but he became worried about his parents as he got older and realised he could not keep doing it. So he joined the camp by Pol Col Anont, which helped him quit drinking, a habit he took up at the age of 12.