Road accidents across the country during the New Year holiday have so far claimed 85 lives and injured 714 people in the first two days of the road safety campaign, with speeding and drunk driving the major causes.
The figures are down slightly from the same period last year, when 90 people died and 787 were injured on the first two days of the so-called “seven dangerous days” for road travel.
On Friday alone, 48 people were killed and 363 injured in 366 accidents, Chotinarin Kerdsom, deputy permanent secretary for the Interior Ministry, said on Saturday.
Accidents in the first two days totalled 715, compared with 797 in the same period a year ago.
According to the Road Safety Directing Centre, speeding accounted for 35.5% of all of road accidents, followed by drunk driving at 25.7%. Seventy-nine percent of all accidents involved motorcycles, and 83.9% of crashes occurred on main roads. The most dangerous hour for collisions was between 4pm and 5pm.
Sakon Nakhon had the most road accidents with 18 on Friday. Nakhon Si Thammarat had the highest number of injured people at 18 while Pathum Thani reported the most fatalities at 4.
A total of 31 provinces reported no road fatalities. Sakon Nakhon had the highest two-day total of crashes at 26, and the most injuries at 29. Pathum Thani had the highest two-day death toll at 6, said Mr Chotinarin.