Thailand

Drunk driving claims most traffic accidents over holiday season

Published

Sunday, January 3, 2021 17:31

Drunk driving is being blamed for most of the road accidents over the 7 deadly days of driving during the New Year season. So far, there have been 2,748 road accidents with 316 deaths and 2,741 injuries reported on the 5th day of the weeklong stretch.

Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation says there were about 383 accidents with 44 deaths and 384 injuries on January 2, with about 30% of those accidents attributed to drinking and driving.

About 29% of road accidents reported were attributed to excessive speeding, while almost 80% of accidents involved motorcycles. 67% of road accidents occurred mostly on a straight part of the roads, 40% were reported in provincial sub-districts and local vilages while about 32% were reported as having occurred on national highways.

Most of those accidents, about 34%, occurred between 4 to 8pm with about 31% of injuries and deaths involving victims of 50 years or older. Chiang Mai held the highest accumulative accidents and injuries, at 97 times and 99 times respectively, while Nakhon Ratchasima held the highest accumulative fatalities.

Chayathon Promsorn, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Transport, says today marks the 5th day of the safety road campaign, “A new way of life, Safe driving without accidents.” Now as New Year’s celebrations wind down, many are using major routes to return to Bangkok. He says traffic jams may occur and may cause drowsy driving for those who stayed late for New Year’s celebrations.

The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, therefore, is urging provincial authorities to increase checkpoints with strict law enforcement to help curb road accidents nationwide. The department also says that public transportation will be provided to help those who wish to return to the capital after the holiday season.

Despite the numbers of traffic accidents under the new campaign, it is unclear if this year’s accidents are an improvement over last year’s.

SOURCE: The Pattaya News

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8 Comments

Bobby B

Sunday, January 3, 2021 at 7:05 pm

When is Thailand gonna do something drastic to make traffic safer, they only talk an polish the statistics numbers, nothing really happens.

How about look into the model India just introduced a few months ago. They introduced hefty fines. As an example, drunk driving fine is equal to 16000 THB and jail in some cases. A fine must hurt in your wallet first then you learn.

Reply
- Buttaxe
  
  Monday, January 4, 2021 at 9:33 am
  
  That just invites bribery, corruption. Repeat offenders should have their vehicle confiscated as a start, pay compensation for life to the victims, do some kind of community service – ideally cleaning up the carnage after each bloody crash.
  
  Reply
Fred Johnson

Monday, January 4, 2021 at 2:56 am

Especially in Thailand. Scary how they drive!

Reply
Dr. Grant Waker

Monday, January 4, 2021 at 8:59 pm

Since I live in Thailand and love it here and ride a motorcycle, I wonder if someone would enlighten me of the statistics. Percentage is not a statistic. It can be interpreted from the data in many ways. If drunk driving and excessive speeds make up 2/3 of the fatalities and 85% are motorcycles then there must be a lot of those 100cc motorcycles that are driving really fast and drunk between 4 pm and 8 pm? I thought they could only top speed about 40 kph? If the motorcycle accidents that are associated with speed and alcohol are big bikes then I am still confused because I don’t seen to see that many bike bikes out there. I do see a lot of those delivery pick up trucks traveling like “a bat out of hell”. I’m not trying to be judgmental, I just want to avoid being on the wrong road at the wrong time and on the wrong vehicle so that I can live to see tomorrow

Reply
- Leo Z
  
  Tuesday, January 5, 2021 at 12:35 am
  
  The small 100cc motorcycles can actually go up to 70-80 kph, not 40 kph. Even the electric scooters you see everywhere can go up to 50-60 kph for 1000w. Also a big factor in the deaths involving bikes is not just the speed, it’s the quality of the helmets worn, or not at all.
  
  Reply
- The Thaiger
  
  Tuesday, January 5, 2021 at 8:33 am
  
  My Honda Zoomer can cruise around at 80kph all day, and still has more left. But I wouldn’t dare.
  
  Reply
Politenessman

Tuesday, January 5, 2021 at 10:49 am

Interesting cultural issue that the country is prepared to lockdown over a relatively minor disease, but not bat an eye at an insane road death/injury toll (well over 12,000 deaths alone in 2019).

Reply
disgusted `

Tuesday, January 5, 2021 at 4:05 pm

The way they drive is reckless and dangerous and quite a few do not have licenses to begin with. They make it sound like this is the only time that this happens but the reality of it is it is every day of the year that is why Thailand has one of the highest death rates in Asia on the roads and the policing is poor to say the least.

Enforce the traffic laws every day and stop bribery and corruption that will reduce road deaths every year all year.

Reply