Phuket holiday road toll: 5 dead in 4 days

PHUKET: Figures issued by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM-Phuket) for the first four days of the “seven days of danger” holiday road-safety campaign put the death toll from accidents in Phuket at five, including two foreigners.

A total of 43 accidents were reported during the period that ended at midnight last night, with 48 people suffering injuries requiring hospital admission.

The first reported death was named as Wulff Jimme Marcus, 34, from, Sweden, who died at 2:15 pm December 29 after the motorcycle he was riding and a pickup truck collided near The Best House Hotel in Karon at 6:30 pm the day before.

German national Paul Heinrich Neumann, 25, died when the motorcycle he was riding crashed into a light post in front of the Esso gas station opposite Tesco-Lotus on the bypass road at 4:45 am on December 29.

Thai male Sutin Tanormwong, 68, died from injuries sustained when his salaeng (motorbike illegally fitted with sidecar) and another motorcycle collided at 6:15 am on December 29 on Soi Bang Kontee in Rawai. He died in hospital at 8:30 am on December 30.

The fourth reported death was 42-year-old Thai male Wittaya Hongwongpaisarn, who died at Vachira Phuket Hospital on December 30 from injuries sustained when his motorcycle collided with a pickup truck on Patak Rd in Karon around 5 am.

The fifth death was listed as Thai male Thitikorn Boonserm, age 26. The details of his accident or the injuries sustained have yet to be made available, except that he was admitted to a hospital on December 30 and died the following day.

During the first four days of the road-safety campaign in Phuket, 36,060 motorists were stopped for inspections at police checkpoints and 6,975 (19.3%) charged with violations.

Of these, the most common charges was operating a vehicle without a license (2,870 cases), followed by drunk driving (1,239 cases), riding a motorcycle without a helmet (1,219), driving a car without a seatbelt (1,172) and riding a motorcycle deemed unsafe by police (475 cases).

The locations of the nine checkpoints were listed as:

Muang District: Thepkrasttri Rd; in front of Surakul Stadium on Wichit Songkhram Rd; and in front of Chao Fa Thani Village on Chao Fa West Rd.

Kathu: Soi Seekor; Patong Hill; and in front of Phuket FantaSea in Kamala.

Thalang: Heroines’ Monument; Cherng Talay Police Station; and Tah Chat Chai.

According to the national Road Safety Center, the nationwide tally for the first four days is 262 dead in 2,823 accidents, which also resulted in 3,081 injuries requiring hospitalization.

Two hotline numbers (1669 and 1784) have been set up for those requiring emergency medical services during the period.