No “new normal” for Thailand’s deadly road toll

In what will come as no surprise to most, the death toll on Thailand’s roads has resumed its upward trend after a brief interruption during the Covid-19 lock-down. As restrictions are gradually lifted across the country, more people are back behind the wheel or the handlebars, and with that, the carnage returns on Thailand’s roads.

In Phuket, a truck ploughed into a power pole on Saturday, killing the Thai driver and a Burmese national who was hit by the falling power pole as he rode his motorbike on the opposite side of the road. In the west of the country yesterday, a mother and 3 year old daughter were killed, when the car they were travelling in, left the road and drove into a tree in Kanchanaburi. The woman’s husband, who was driving, is in hospital in serious condition.

PHOTO: Chiangrai Times

Another accident in the south killed an 80 year old woman in Nakhon Si Thammarat, when the motorbike she was a pillion passenger on was hit by a car. The woman lost a leg and sustained a broken neck in the impact, while the man driving the bike sustained serious injuries. Reports say the car involved was travelling at high speed and it’s understood the unidentified driver remained at the scene and surrendered to the police.

Already on the first day of June, 11 people have died on Thailand’s roads and nearly 700 have been injured (as of 10.40am).

Data from thairsc.com

SOURCE: Chiang Rai Times