Songkran toll better on every measure

Songkran toll better on every measure

The Songkran road death toll has risen to 192 after dozens of people lost their lives on Wednesday.

The fifth day of the "high danger" period saw 330 road accidents in 71 of the country's 77 provinces, injuring 328 people and killing 37.

Since the country was put in lockdown during last year's Songkran, the Road Safety Directing Centre, which keeps track of the numbers, is using the 2019 data for comparison purposes this year.

Based on these figures, the numbers of accidents, deaths and injuries has dropped across the board.

Of 1,795 accidents over the past five days, Nakhon Si Thammarat accounted for 76, followed by Chiang Mai (63), Songkhla and Surat Thani (49).

In terms of deaths, Bangkok, Khon Kaen and Pathum Thani led with eight each, followed by Chon Buri and Chiang Mai (7) and Sakhon Nakhon (6), while for injuries Nakhon Si Thammarat led with 82, followed by Chiang Mai (61) and Surat Thani (55).

Excessive drinking has been the main cause of this year's accidents, accounting for 39.6% of all accidents, followed by speeding (27%).

As in past years, motorcycles have been the type of vehicles most involved in crashes, at 79.3%, followed by pickup trucks (6.6%) and passenger cars (3.6%).

Over the past five days, most accidents occurred on highways (65.7%) and from 4pm to 8pm (30.3%). Most of those injured or killed were 50 and older (23.5%).

Vittawan Sunthornkajit, director-general of the Department of Probation, says that drivers involved in 1,648 of the accidents had mostly been guilty of drink-driving and had been placed on probation by the courts.

Mr Vittawan said 11 drivers had been told to wear electronic monitoring bracelets, with a 10pm-4am curfew for 15 days and six-month driving bans.

Those considered to be prone to alcohol addiction are being sent for rehabilitation under strict control at hospitals, while repeat offenders are being sent for three days' intensive rehabilitation.

From April 10 to 14, there were 3,743 car accident-related court cases, mostly involving drink-driving at 99.66% (3,730 cases), followed by drug-driving at 0.29% (11 cases) and reckless-driving at 0.05% (2 cases), he said.

The top three provinces for drink-driving cases were Chaiyaphum (290), Chiang Rai (264) and Buri Ram (251).

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (4)