Sixty-seven people died in road accidents nationwide on the last day of 2020, up 28.8% from the same day of the road safety campaign in the previous year.
A total of 652 accidents took place on Dec 31 on the second day of the campaign, up 23.2%, with 642 injuries, up 16.7%, according to the Road Safety Center.
The province with the most accidents and injuries was Chiang Mai (27), which also led in the number of accumulative accidents over the first three days of the campaign, with 63.
Nakhon Ratchasima saw the most fatalities, with seven on Thursday and 13 over the past three days.
Like in the previous two days of the campaign, the main causes of the accidents on Thursday were drink driving (38%) and speeding (34.4%).
Motorcycles continued to lead as the type of vehicles most prone to accidents, at 85.9%, followed by pickup trucks (5.4%) and small passenger cars (3.1%).
Most of the accidents occurred on major highways (33.6%) and rural roads (11.2%). The time of the day when most accidents took place was 4-8pm (29.7%) and people aged 50 or more were the most affected group (25.8%).
Kachornsak Kaewcharas, deputy director-general of the Disease Control Department, said the centre had asked provincial authorities to step up screening at checkpoints, which also took temperatures of travellers to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
A crash in Nakhon Ratchasima on Thursday. Korat, the gateway to the North and Northeast, reported seven deaths on the third day of the New Year road safety campaign. (Photo by Prasit Tangprasert)
bkkpost
