At the end of the New Year's holiday, the government boffins once again provided the bad news. During the "seven dangerous days" of Dec 28 to Jan 3, there were 3,841 serious traffic accidents. These killed 423 drivers and passengers, and sent 4,005 to hospitals and clinics. For this, the government spokesman suggested the public should praise hard work by policy-makers.
But Lt Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd is wrong.
There is nothing about the highway carnage of the New Year holidays to justify approval or even a shred of optimism. Before the start of the "dangerous days" period, government and police all the way to the top announced attempts to reduce the highway slaughter which would repeat the actions of the same period a year ago.
The 2016-17 road and highway crashes killed 478 people, a national record for these seven-day campaigns. So this year's toll was 423 dead people, 11.5% lower than a year previously. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and the national police chief Pol Gen Chakthip Chaijinda took no responsibility for last year's record number of deaths. They deserve no plaudits for the tiny reduction this year.
Here is why. In the first place, the annual holiday road slaughter varies. That's no surprise. Thailand is World No.1 in road accidents and deaths among civilised countries -- and by quite a lot.
Here's a sad truth. In the recent "dangerous days" period, Thais died on the roads at the rate of one every 23 minutes. In fact, there was nothing special or holiday-ish about this. Government statistics published by the World Health Organisation show that on an annual basis, a traffic mishap in Thailand kills someone every 22 minutes.
Accidents occur for a large variety of reasons. Drink-driving and speeding are villains, but there are many others. They include road conditions, weather, time of day, individual vehicle maintenance... There is entirely too much drink-driving in Thailand, but that is not the root cause of the nation's slaughter on the roads.
The second reason for pause instead of applause lies within the increasingly absurd and even useless holiday campaigns. Back up a year. As said above, the traffic deaths during the seven-day, 2016-2017 campaign totalled 478, a record.
And this year, the same seven days caused 423 deaths.
But in between was another "seven dangerous days" campaign sponsored by government.
That Songkran period resulted in 390 dead.
This was not just below the December-January death tolls. It marked a full 11 fatalities per day fewer than during non-holiday periods.
More and more, it is becoming clear that the government and police "crackdowns" at holiday time produce nothing positive.
Many years of statistics prove they do nothing to actually reduce accidents, deaths and serious injuries.
What they do accomplish is exactly the opposite: An attitude that except for two crackdowns a year, there's no pressure to buckle up, stop drinking, slow down, pay attention to road conditions or, in a phrase, drive carefully.
This is a systemic and nationwide problem that will not be alleviated until it is addressed head-on. Indeed, Lt Gen Sansern's order to praise action that reduced the death toll is exactly wrong.
It encourages those who see short campaigns as somehow useful in fighting this literally deadly problem.
This is a battle that government, police, agencies, NGOs and -- dare we say? -- all media must join. Until the public is both aware and responsive to the problem at hand, Thailand's position as the world's No.1 highway killer will remain secure.