New Year road safety campaign ‘a failure’
PHUKET: Dr Wanchai Sattayawutthipong, Chief of the Phuket Provincial Health Office (PPHO), yesterday called the provincial road safety campaign over the holiday period a “failure”.
Between December 29 and January 4, one man and one woman were killed and 90 people were injured in road accidents on the island.
The PPHO had set “targets” of a maximum of four dead and 69 injured for the period.
“We have failed with our anti-drunk-driving campaign. We need to continue the fight against motorcyclists not wearing crash helmets and against drunk drivers. Almost all of the accidents occurred on main roads and were alcohol-related, and 78.94% of accidents involved motorcycles,” he said.
According to the latest statistics compiled by the Phuket Office of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, some 2,751 road users were charged with committing traffic violations over the holiday period.
These included 1,900 found to be driving without valid licenses; 522 motorcyclists fined for not wearing crash helmets and 194 car drivers charged for not wearing seat belts.
In addition, there were 86 drunk driving charges and 36 people were fined for driving illegally modified motorbikes. Thirteen people were charged with exceeding speed limits.
