The high death toll from road accidents during the New Year makes the holiday season as gloomy as ever.
Two days into the Transport Ministry's road safety campaign, dubbed the "seven dangerous days'', which began on Tuesday, a total of 128 people had been killed on the road, with over 1,150 injured. The number of deaths more than doubled on Wednesday after 58 died on Tuesday.
So far, this year has been more deadly than last, when 86 people died in the first two days of the period in nearly 900 accidents.
The death statistics are like deja vu, which we're forced to witness twice a year during New Year and during Songkran in April when revelling crowds embark on a journey out of the city, to visit families in the provinces or to take a tour. It's unfortunate that so many could not make it to their destination safely.
Meanwhile, the cause of the crashes, year after year, remains the same — drunk and reckless driving.
A report by the Thai Health Foundation blamed drink-driving for one-third of road accidents during Songkran last year. And the accident victims tend to be of the same age group: working-age men and women.
As expected, the authorities are instructed to toughen road safety measures in the hope of saving some lives before the long holiday period comes to an end on Monday.
We can expect another attempt by anti-alcohol campaigners to bring back a proposal to ban alcohol sales during the festive seasons, a measure that was rejected this year by the government. But that is not the point. What we need is a road safety culture and that cannot be achieved from a knee-jerk reaction or a temporary enforcement campaign.
In fact, police in recent months have launched quite a few traffic campaigns, including a ban on texting while driving. These efforts, though welcome, are not aggressive enough.
Other campaigns, like forcing cars to stop at pedestrian crossings, simply fizzled out.
Two weeks ago, a woman who was crossing Asok Road at the pedestrian crossing was hit by a small truck when a driver jumped the red light. She was killed instantly.
A urine test on the driver, who was caught at the scene, showed he was high on drugs. Witnesses said similar accidents have happened at the same spot; some were fatal.
This would not happen in a society where traffic laws are strongly enforced. Every day, we see reckless drivers and motorcyclists go scot free as traffic police simply look elsewhere.
Motorists or motorcyclists who get away with traffic offences aren't going to suddenly abide by the law during a designated period when the authorities say they're going to intensify traffic rules.
Drivers who overtake others provocatively and are not arrested will do the same whenever they can. The same goes for those who jump red lights.
These people need to be punished because their acts compromise not only their own safety but the safety of others. We cannot depend on luck.
Reckless drivers must be dealt with appropriately to make sure they are more responsible on the road.
To make roads safer, we need to make traffic enforcement stringent all the time, not just twice a year. Nurturing a road safety culture is not an option. It is a must.