Motorcycles lead Songkran casualty toll higher (Updated Thursday)
The first three days of the Songkran festivalโ€s โ€seven dangerous daysโ€ saw 181 people lose their lives on the nationโ€s roads, up nearly 50 percent from last yearโ€s tally. The main culprits once again were motorcyclists.
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When I visited my home in the United States last August, I saw no more than 40 motorcyles during my three weeks there. Here, I see that many within the first two minutes of my trip to work. Clearly, motorcycle saftey has to be a main focus of educators and law enforcement officials if the nation's highway carnage is to be reduced.
Thursday afternoon update
Road crashes on the nations' roads on Wednesday – the third of the seven-day road safety campaign from April 11-17 – claimed 65 lives, three more than last year.
Through the first three of the "seven dangerous days" through Wednesday, 181 people died on the roads, up 49.6% from the same period last year, and 1,771 people were hurt, up 38.3% from 2015, in 1,661 accidents, according to the Interior Ministry's road safety centre.
Wednesday afternoon update
The first two days of the Songkran festival’s “seven dangerous days” saw 116 people lose their lives on the nation’s roads, nearly double last year’s tally.
Despite the government's stepped-up road-safety campaign, 981 people were hurt in 907 accidents. The fatalities were a 96.6% increase over this point in 2015.
The Interior Ministry's road safety centre said 64 people were killed and 550 hurt in 520 traffic accidents on Tuesday alone.
Chiang Mai province recoreded the largest number of accidents at 45 as well as the most injuries at 48. Buri Ram saw the most fatalities with eight, according to statistics released on Wednesday by the centre.
Morning story
Motorcycles lead Songkran casualty toll higher
With tens of thousands of police and volunteers monitoring the country's roads and highways, the government's Songkran safety campaign might be working – except for one thing: motorcycles.
One day one of the so-called "dangerous days" which run from April 11 through April 17, arrests and vehicle seizures were high, but deaths and injuries were even higher. As usual, almost 80 percent of the accidents involved motorcycles.
52 people were killed on Monday and 431 others injured. The death toll was more than double that of day one last year.
Pol Lt Gen Anan Srihiran, assistant chief of the Royal Thai Police and spokesman for the government's campaign centre, said 37% of the traffic accidents were caused by speeding and 27% by drink-driving.
A total of 3,085 people were arrested for drink-driving and 75 vehicles impounded at road safety checkpoints between Saturday and Monday, National Council for Peace and Order deputy spokeswoman Col Sirichan Ngathong said Tuesday.
Of those arrested, 1,994 were charged with reckless driving while 255 had their driver's licences seized.
On Monday, 1,345 people were arrested for drink-driving, including 875 motorcyclists and 470 drivers of cars and public transport vehicles. Forty-seven vehicles – 38 motorcycles and nine cars – were impounded.
Beginning Wednesday, the road safety campaign will be ramped up on local roads across the country as many travellers would have arrived at their destinations and were celebrating the festival, said Chatchai Phromlert, director-general of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.
Story includes information from our Post Reporters.
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