Phuket focuses on foreigners causing motorbike accidents

As Thailand sees the tail end of the dreaded “Seven Days of Danger” where road accidents and death tend to spike over the new year holiday, officials in Phuket are focusing on the number of accidents involving foreigners on their roads. At this morning’s daily briefing at the Phuket Provincial Hall, officials said that foreigners on holiday renting motorbikes and driving poorly or dangerously is a common denominator in the number of accidents reported on the island.

The briefing was delivered by the Chief of the Phuket Provincial Office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation who went over the daily figures and discussed the issue with foreign motorbike drivers. The Deputy Director of the Phuket branch of the Internal Security Operations Command led the meeting to keep road safety officials updated on the latest updates for the Seven Days of Danger.

They proposed creating new rules or measures to control foreigners renting motorbikes to prevent them from driving recklessly on the road. Details were not reported on whether they are considering stricter road laws for foreigners or perhaps some laws regulating who is allowed to rent a bike – like verifying a license or ability and experience driving a motorbike before being allowed to rent.

Yesterday, six accidents were officially reported on the roads of Phuket. Four men and two women were admitted to the hospital and treated for injuries. There were no casualties though. Since the Seven Days of Danger campaign began on December 29 until day 5 yesterday, there were 24 road accidents with 24 injuries and just one death in Phuket. Of those hospitalised for injuries, 14 were men and 11 were women.

Motorbikes are involved in more accidents than any other type of vehicle. And the causes behind most accidents were risky driving, drunk driving, and speeding.

Interestingly in light of the push towards limiting foreigners as a danger on the road, the nationalities of the people involved in road accidents in the report were not mentioned.