263 killed in 5 days of New Year road accidents

263 killed in 5 days of New Year road accidents

The driver of this pickup died returning home from a New Year party on Sunday night. He crashed off the road into a waterworks pond in tambon Thong Chai Nua, Pak Thong Chai district, Nakhon Ratchasima province. (Photo: Prasit Tangprasert)
The driver of this pickup died returning home from a New Year party on Sunday night. He crashed off the road into a waterworks pond in tambon Thong Chai Nua, Pak Thong Chai district, Nakhon Ratchasima province. (Photo: Prasit Tangprasert)

Forty people died in road accidents nationwide on Monday, the fifth day of the week-long New Year road safety campaign, raising the holiday death toll to 263.

The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department's road safety campaign centre said on Tuesday that on Monday there were 294 road accidents nationwide, with 295 people injured and 40 killed.

Speeding was the biggest cause of accidents, blamed for 36%, followed by drink-driving, 23%.

Motorcycles were involved in the majority of accidents, 79%. About 75% of accidents occurred on straight roads, 37% on highways and 32% on village roads.

The most dangerous time to be on the roads was between midnight and 1am, when  8.50% of accidents  occurred. The age-range 20-29 years suffered the most casualties, 18.5%, the department reported.

There were 1,880 road checkpoints, manned by 55,861 officials, throughout the country.  A total of 397,459 vehicles were stopped for examination and legal action was taken against 57,635 people - 16,738 for driving without a licence, 16,320 for not wearing a safety helmet and 7,394 for speeding.

Nakhon Si Thammarat had the most accidents (14) and most injuries (17). Si Sa Ket recorded the most deaths (5).

During the five days, Dec 29-Jan 2, there were 1,960 accidents nationwide with 1,938 injured and 263 killed. Nakhon Si Thammarat and Sakon Nakhon had the most accidents, 65 each. The highest number injuries, 70, was recorded in Nakhon Si Thammarat. Chiang Rai had the highest death toll, 13.

In the same five-day period a year ago, there were a total of 1,717 accidents with 274 deaths and 2,198 injuries.

Six provinces have reported zero road deaths - Narathiwat, Bung Kan, Phangnga, Yala, Satun and Sukhothai.

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