Holiday weekend road death toll: 59

Road deaths surged during the holiday weekend. 59 people were killed in road incidents and 365 people were injured, according to the Transport Ministry. From last Thursday to Monday, a total of 405 road incidents were reported across Thailand. 116 of the incidents involved motorcycles and 31 out of the 59 deaths involved motorcycles. Many of the crashes and collisions were related to speeding.

Bangkok and Suphanburi had the highest number of road incidents. Bangkok had 38 car incidents and Suphanburi reported 9 road incidents involving motorcycles.

More than 14 million vehicles drove in and out of a Bangkok. The ministry says it was nearly 39% more than they had expected. Many people traveled by driving private cars. The ministry expected more people to utilise public transportation. While 9.82 million people used public transportation, it was nearly 11% less than what was expected.

Many had last Friday and Monday off work as substitute days for Songkran after April’s water celebrations were cancelled due to lockdown measures. Songkran is also known as the “7 Deadly Days” due to the hundreds of road deaths during the holiday. Just 1 day of Songkran last year racked up 59 deaths and 598 injuries.

SOURCES: Nation Thailand | Bangkok Post