A total of 508 road accidents on Friday brought the death toll for the first five days of the "seven dangerous days" of Songkran to 338, an increase of 35% from a year ago.
In the first five-days of the April 11-17 dangerous period there have been a total of 2,724 road accidents nationwide with 2,891 people injured, said Chaweerat Kasetsunthorn, assistant to the culture minister.
On Friday alone, 79 people were killed and 513 injured in 508 accidents, she said, citing a report by the road safety centre of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.
Drink-driving remained the major cause of crashes at 33.8%, followed by speeding at 30.3%. Most accidents involved motorcycles, at 80.4%, followed by pickup trucks at 9.7%, she said.
Chiang Mai had the most accidents over the five days at 136 as well as the most injuries at 144. Bangkok had the highest number of fatalities at 15.
Chayapol Thitisak, deputy permanent secretary for the Interior Ministry, said the road safety centre had intensified its safety campaign and integrated efforts with other agencies to find out the causes of crashes and risk factors, particularly in provinces where major crashes occurred.
Carnage on the roads at Songkran underlines the fact that Thailand has the second-worst road safety record in the world, according to United Nations records. Only Libya has more traffic deaths per capita.
Chatchai Promlert, director-general of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, said officials had been deployed nationwide to facilitate traffic movement as Songkran revellers started to return home on Saturday, causing congestion on all main roads.
He urged motorists to give full cooperation to authorities manning road checkpoints, exercise caution while driving and obey traffic rules.
A total of 81,541 people have been arrested and 4,609 vehicles impounded at road-safety checkpoints across the country as part of the government’s anti-drinking campaign over Songkran.
Police and soldiers impounded 3,488 motorcycles and 1,121 cars and public vehicles from drunk drivers between April 9 and 15, said Sirichan Ngathong, deputy spokeswoman for the National Council for Peace and Order.
The number of people arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol over the past seven days stood at 81,541, including 50,271 motorcycle drivers and 31,270 drivers of cars and public vehicles, said Col Sirichan.
On Saturday alone, police arrested 29,225 people, including 17,871 motorcycle drivers and 11,354 drivers of cars and public vehicles for beingh drunk at the wheel.
A total of 1,127 motorcycles and 425 cars were impounded and 707 driving licences seized on that day, said the NCPO deputy spokeswoman.
