The 2,761 road accidents nationwide over the first five days of the New Year holidays have claimed 314 lives and maimed 2,848 others, Public Health Ministry deputy permanent secretary Dr Prapon Tangsrikertikul said on Tuesday.
He said the most cited causes for Monday road carnage were drunk driving (44.82 per cent) and speeding (29.88 per cent, while most crashes (81.62 per cent) involved motorcycles. Prapon spoke on behalf of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department’s Road Safety Centre (Thai RSC), which is tasked with reducing death tolls during the period’s “seven dangerous days”.
Chiang Mai reported the highest cumulative crashes with 91 cases, Nakhon Ratchasima posted the highest cumulative fatalities at 14 deaths and Nakhon Si Thammarat suffered the highest cumulative casualties at 96 injuries. Only 10 provinces had reported no deaths in road accidents as of Monday.
On December 31 alone, there were 569 road accidents, killing 72 persons and wounding 519 others, Proapon said. Nakhon Ratchasima cited the highest number of crashes at 23 cases, Si Sa Ket and Ubon Ratchathani had the highest fatalities at four each, and Nakhon Si Thammarat had the most injuries at 27.
Prapon said the most cited causes for Monday’s road carnage were drunk driving (44.82 per cent) and speeding (29.88 per cent, while most crashes (81.62 per cent) involved motorcycles.
About 39 per cent of the crashes took place on highways, while 36.20 per cent occurred on local roads. Most of the accidents transpired between 4pm and 8pm (31.28 per cent).
Prapon said that 2,049 checkpoints, staffed by 66,867 officials nationwide, recorded 194,173 traffic violations on Monday. Among them were 47,150 motorists who failed to produce a licence and 51,811 motorcyclists who were stopped for riding without helmets.
National Council for Peace and Order deputy spokeswoman Colonel Sirichan Nga-thong meanwhile reported that a total of 3,684 vehicles (2,677 motorcycles and 1,007 automobiles) had been seized from drunk drivers during December 27-31.
