A total of 385 road accidents occurred across the country on Saturday, the second of the 7-day (Dec 29-Jan 4) road safety campaign over the New Year holidays, leaving 404 injured and 37 dead, said Justice Minister Pol Col Tawee Sodsong, citing figures from the Road Safety Directing Centre.
The most accidents, 18, occurred in the northern province of Tak, which also recorded the highest number of injuries, 18.
Bangkok recorded the highest number of deaths, 4.
No deaths were reported in 37 provinces.
Most of the accidents, 34.55%, were caused by speeding and 22.60% by drink-driving. Motorcycles accounted for 85.29% of the accidents.
Most (80.52%) of the accidents happened on straight roads - 38.44% on highways and 35.32% on rural or village roads. The peak time for the accidents was between 6.01-7.00pm. Those aged 20 to 29 accounted for the highest number of injuries or deaths by age group.
A total of 1,774 safety checkpoints, manned by 51,408 personnel, were in place across the country on Saturday.
The Dec 30 figures increased the road toll over the first two days (Dec 29-30) of the seven-day road safety campaign to 724 accidents, with 739 injured and 71 killed.
The Department of Probation, meanwhile, revealed that during Dec 29-30 there were 644 traffic law violations and most (95.81%) involved drink-driving.
The most drink-driving cases occurred in Samut Prakan (78), Bangkok (69) and Chiang Mai (58).
According to the World Health Organization, an average of 60 people die on Thailand's roads every day of the year, so the Road Safety Directing Centre's statistics appear to understate the actual fatality rate. One possible explanation is that some of those reported injured will die later.