Road carnage unacceptable

Road carnage unacceptable

Last week's slaughter on the roads showed yet again that many changes are necessary to improve standards and save lives. The "seven dangerous days" of Songkran may appear to have defied the odds of probability. In 2012, the Songkran season resulted in 320 road deaths. Last year, 323 people were killed. And last week, the death toll was 322. In other words, the combination of official prevention and highway etiquette produces the same result, year after year.

One element that was different this year than in the previous two years was a lack of close government control. About the only government involvement in the Songkran campaign to curtail careless deaths was a brief statement from the prime minister. So it seems government pressure alone has no effect on the various behaviours that result in such a horrendous toll at the Thai New Year.

Remarks by the police and the Ministry of Public Health suggest there was little or no change from recent years. Police manned checkpoints and bragged of the scores of arrests of suspected drink drivers. Public health officials issued several pre-holiday cautions against heavy drinking.

These were obviously pro forma rather than proactive. And these are the most important pair of agencies involved in the attempts to alleviate Songkran slaughter. Without active enforcement, coupled with strong, loud campaigns for moderation, the effect is predictable: next year's post-Songkran headlines will lament a death toll of more than 300 Thais in seven days.

The behaviour that most obviously affects the high rate of accidents, and causes the horrifying number of deaths and injuries, is well known. Four of five accidents involve motorcycles. Two of five involve alcohol. These figures tally with real-life statistics from previous New Year and Songkran holidays. They were confirmed last year by a meticulous study by the World Health Organisation.

The WHO study, along with statistics and studies produced by the Thai government and academia, were mostly ignored. For reasons they are unable to articulate, safe-driving campaigners and police enforcers have been reluctant for years to come up with effective proposals on highway and road safety. Indeed, they have been unable even to suggest improvements to the obviously lacking campaigns currently under way.

It is past time for authorities to come up with proper highway safety campaigns. The daily death toll on our roads is among the worst in the world; one UN study last year placed it dead last. So the first item on the new agenda for road safety is that policies must apply every day, not just during the extraordinary butchery of multi-day holidays.

Drink-driving has been tolerated for far too long. A dual-track programme of education and enforcement is overdue. The fact is that even one or two beers or drinks turn a competent driver into a dangerous one — dangerous to himself and to others. Drink-driving is no longer tolerable.

Police must toughen up their scattergun enforcement of drink-driving laws. Thais must adopt the example of scores of other countries, that party-goers designate one person who will not drink but will be responsible for driving.

Enforcement must be tough, with real penalties that go beyond today's permissive suspended sentences or unenforced community service.

A proper educational campaign must drive home to motorcycle owners that their fragile transportation is a lethal risk after even one drink.

Good driving goes hand in hand with strong enforcement. The alternative is continued blood-letting.

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