A new YouTube video campaigning against drink-driving during the Christmas and New Year period highlights the fact that Thailand has the highest rate of road-accident fatalities in the world outside of a war zone.
Prominent businessman Sermsin Samalapa on Wednesday uploaded the 55-second “Drink Drive Death” clip, of which he was executive producer, with the intention of raising awareness among the public about the danger of driving while drunk.
Sermsin cited statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO), Probation Department, and Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, which indicate that drink-driving is the main cause of road accidents during the New Year holidays.
“The film presents the fear that drink-driving can tragically turn the festive New Year holiday into a sad tragedy from road accidents. English is used in this multimedia to ensure that the message reaches beyond Thailand, as drink driving is a worldwide problem,” he said.
His video clip can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQHPbt-zbic
In order to highlight the severity of the problems on road safety, he referenced WHO statistics on road accidents, which reveal that the rate of road fatalities among the Thai people was as high as 36.2 persons per 100,000 population.
This means Thailand has the highest road fatality rate in Asia and ranks second on the global level following only Libya.
Given that Libya is suffering a civil war, which has contributed to many road deaths, the World Atlas website notes that Thailand should be regarded as having the highest rate.
Sermsin pointed out that, according to Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department data, the number of injuries and deaths during the New Year period has increased over the past five years.
The most prominent cause, accounting for 36.59 per cent of accidents during the last New Year period, was drunk drivers.
He noted that Probation Department statistics showed that there were 4,342 drink-driving cases over the past New Year, which was 871 more cases – or 29.5 per cent higher – than the previous period. Source: Asia Nation
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