Three hundred and seventeen people lost their lives on Thai roads in the first six of the “seven dangerous days” of the New Year holidays and more than 3,000 were injured, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation reported on Thursday (January 2).
The department’s Road Safety Directing Centre put the figures for New Year’s Day on Wednesday at 547 accidents, 55 deaths and 577 injuries.
Songkhla so far is the province with the highest total for accidents at 32 and the greatest number of injuries at 35, while Ratchaburi and Udon Thani top the death toll with four fatalities each.
The “seven dangerous days” from December 27-January 2 are so-called because, with so many people travelling to and from family holiday gatherings, the number of road accidents spikes.
By Thursday, the sixth day, 317 people had been killed in 3,076 road accidents and 3,160 injured.
Most of the accidents – 39.3 per cent – are blamed on drunk driving, and 28.3 per cent on speeding.
Most of the people killed or injured this season (21.8 per cent) have been age 50 or older. Motorcycles accounted for 79.4 per cent of the vehicles involved.
A third of the accidents occurred between 1am and 4am, mainly on highways (36.8 per cent) but almost equally on district and local roads (35.8 per cent).
