‘Seven Days of Danger’: 3 dead, 56 injured in Phuket

PHUKET CITY: Three people died and 56 more suffered injuries requiring hospital admittance in Phuket during the first four days of the ‘Seven Days of Danger’ road safety campaign that began December 29.

Sun Chuntarawong, who heads the Phuket office of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Phuket (DDPM-Phuket), said the first fatality was six-year-old Kitikwan Srichai of Phang Nga, killed when the motorcycle he was on was hit by a pick-up truck on Thepkrasattri Rd in Ban Lipon, Tambon Srisoonthorn, at 8:15pm. Two others on the motorbike were sent to Thalang Hospital.

There were two more fatalities yesterday.

The first was near the prawn fishing farm on Patak Rd in Karon, at 5:45 pm. The victim, 86-year-old Jaroern Nawin, was riding without a helmet when he was run over by a car he was trying to overtake illegally, according to the DDPM report.

The third victim was 43-year-old Wissapat Makaadaeng, who lost control of his motorbike at high speed and collided with a power pole on a private road near the Bangkhoo Chinese Shrine in Koh Kaew at 6:20pm. He was pronounced dead at the scene of a broken neck. It was not reported whether he was wearing a helmet.

There were a total of 23 accidents thought to have been caused by drunk driving. Of these, about 80% involved motorcycles, he said.

Statistically, males between the ages of 30-39 riding motorbikes between 8pm and midnight were the most likely to be involved in accidents, Mr Sun said.

At police checkpoints around the island, officers called over 34,474 cars for inspection over the first four days and charged 5,654 people with traffic law violations.

The most common were failure to wear a safety belt (1,084 cases), driving without a license (1,807 cases) and operating a motorbike without a helmet (1,668 cases).

Police tested 8,006 drivers for drunk driving, charging 555 people with this offense.

Nationwide, Nakhon Sri Thammarat had the highest number of recorded accidents, 83, followed by Phetchabun (82) and Chiang Mai (80) over the first four days.

Chantaburi and Ayudhaya have both recorded ten deaths over the first four days, the highest figure in the country, according to the latest DDPM reports.

— S. Nongkaew & S. Fein