Authorities impounded 559 private vehicles of drink drivers nationwide Sunday, bringing the total number of nabbed vehicles to 1,011 since the first day of the road safety campaign on Thursday, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) says.
On New Year's Eve, the vehicles seized comprised 414 motorcycles and the rest cars, NCPO spokeswoman Sirichan Ngathong said.
Road deaths and injuries are at record levels for the second year in a row despite heavy-handed enforcement efforts.(Post Today photo)
Since Thursday, the onset of the so-called "seven dangerous days" road safety campaign, a total of 10,111 traffic violations were committed nationwide. Of these, 7,298 were offences involving motorcycles.
Of all traffic violations involving private cars, 2,813 cases were sent to court on Thursday.
In all, 1,011 private vehicles have been impounded on traffic violation charges related to drink-driving since Thursday. Of them, 810 were motorcycles.
The overall cases of drink drivers brought to court since Thursday stood at 17,614, the majority of which involve motorcyclists.
Police are withholding the vehicles and the driver's licences for the duration of the New Year holiday, which ends Tuesday, or until the owners pay their fines and claim their vehicles.
Col Sirichan said the NCPO thanked people for their cooperation in following New Year's eve security measures at celebration venues.
Drink-driving remains the biggest cause of New Year road accidents, followed by speeding, the Centre for Road Accident Prevention and Reduction said Sunday.
The centre said more staff have been deployed at roadside checkpoints to strictly enforce road rules from 4pm to 8pm, when most traffic accidents tend to occur.
According to the Transport Operation Centre, the first three days of the New Year holiday travels beginning on Thursday saw an 85% increase in traffic on average in main roads nationwide, compared to the same period last year.
EARLIER REPORT: Day 3: New Year death toll soars to 199
The New Year holiday death toll has reached 199 as the country entered the fourth day of the so-called “seven dangerous days” of the New Year holidays.
On Saturday alone, 86 were killed, up 15 from Friday, 800 were injured, up 66, in 757 road accidents across the country, up 77, Chaipreuk Sereeerak, permanent secretary for the Education Ministry, said on Sunday.
This brought the accumulated road accidents over the past three days from Dec 29, the first day of the campaign, to 1,961, with 199 deaths and 2,099 injuries.
A Toyota pickup truck swiped a tree in Sukhothai's Si Satchanalai district after the 59-year-old driver tried to overtake a car but lost control. The driver was killed and a teenage passenger injured. (Photo by Phubet Faithet)
Statistics from the Road Safety Directing Center showed there were 1,691 road accidents, 178 deaths and 1,755 injuries during the same period of the campaign last year.
Chiang Mai in the North recorded the most road accidents of 33 on Saturday, said Mr Chaipreuk.
Udon Thani in the Northeast and Surat Thani in the South had the highest death toll of five each.
Drink driving was the major cause of road accident, accounting for 48.86%, followed by speeding (33.3%).
Most accidents, or 80.8%, involved motorcycles, said the permanent secretary for education.
Road accidents often occurred on main roads (63%), local roads (42.1%) and highways (32.2%). The time of the day most prone to accidents day was between 4pm and 8pm.
Most injured and dead victims were in the working age, at 55.1%, said Mr Chaipreuk.
Authorities manning 2,030 road checkpoints across the country took for questioning 110,917 motorists for possible traffic violations during the three days. Of them, 30,646 had no driving licences and 29,894 rode motorcycles without crash helmets.
The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) also said on Sunday authorities had charged more than 17,000 drivers for breaking traffic laws and seized around 1,000 vehicles over the first three days of the road safety campaign.
Of the total 17,614 wrongdoers, 66% or 11,764 rode motorcycles. The remaining 5,850 drove public transport vehicles and passenger cars, deputy NCPO spokeswoman Col Sirichan Ngathong said.
Officials also confiscated 1,011 vehicles of drink drivers during the period, 810 of which were motorcycles, she added.