Most of the people living in Bangkok are concerned about road accidents if they are to travel to provinces for the Songkran festival, according to the result of an opinion survey conducted by Bangkok University, or Bangkok Poll.
The survey was conducted from March 31 to April 4 on 1,178 people aged 18 and over in 20 of 50 Bangkok districts -- Klong Toey, Chatuchak, Don Mueang, Din Daeng, Dusit, Thawi Watthana, Bang Khen, Bang Sue, Bang Na, Bang Rak, Pathumwan, Prawet, Phaya Thai, Phra Nakhon, Phasi Charoen, Min Buri, Ratchathewi, Rat Burana, Sai Mai and Lak Si.
On their planned spendings, 67.5%, said they would spend most on merit-making, followed by 52.4% on travel, 49.8% on food and parties, 20% on alcoholic drinks, and 10.4% on accommodations.
A majority of the respondents, 51.1%, said their spending would roughly be the same as last year, 26.5% said it would be less, and 22.4% said it would be higher than last year.
Asked what they were concerned about when travelling to the provinces for the festival, most of them, 47.4% said they worried about road accidents, 34.1% about traffic problems, 13.4% about drink-driving, 2.4% about a lack of public transport safety, and 2.7% about insufficient public transport.
Asked whether they thought the use of Section 44 of the 2014 interim charter would improve traffic discipline during Songkran would be effective, 77.8% said "yes" and the rest disagreed.