The government on Sunday kicked off a new road safety campaign aimed at improving the safety of New Year travel, as the Royal Thai Police (RTP) ramped up operations against drunk driving in particular.
The government is aiming to further curb road accidents in the festive season by launching the New Year 2025 road safety campaign, said Sasikarn Watthanachan, deputy spokeswoman of the Prime Minister's Office. Last year road accidents in the same period claimed 284 lives, she said.
"Drink don't drive, come home safe" is the theme of this year's safety campaign for the New Year season, she said. It mainly encourages people to refrain from driving while under the influence of alcohol, a major preventable cause of road accidents during the festive season, she said.
Up to 20,917 people, including repeat offenders, were caught while driving under the influence during the New Year 2024 road safety campaigning period, she said. Repeat offenders face harsher punishments.
Last year police began stepping up legal action against shops that illegally sell alcoholic beverages to young drivers, she said. A number of these young drivers were caught while under the influence, she said, adding their parents were held responsible for neglecting their children, deemed misconduct under the child protection law.
First-time offenders may face a maximum jail sentence of 1 year and/or a fine of up to 20,000 baht, while repeat offenders face up to two years in prison, a fine of up to 100,000 baht and a one-year suspension of their driver's licence, she said. Those who continue to break the law can lose their licence permanently, she said.
"Our wish is that everyone doesn't drink and drive so everyone all come home safe," she said.
The most common causes of road accidents during the New Year holiday period last year were speeding (40.6%), swerving sharply in front of another running vehicle (23.31%) and drunk driving (14.29%), she said.
Up to 87.01% of the accidents which occurred during the New Year 2024 festive travel period involved a motorcycle, while a vast majority of the dead victims (19.67%) were people between 30 and 39 years old, she said.
However, the good news is the number of road accidents and casualties in the country has continued to decline over the past three years, she said.
There were 2,707 road accidents during the New Year 2022 festive period, 2,440 during the New Year 2023 period and 2,288 during the New Year 2024 period, while the number of those injured recorded in the past three New Year periods were 2,672, 2,437 and 2,307, respectively, she said.
The death toll recorded during New Year 2022 and 2023 was 333 and 317, respectively, she said.
The RTP has already begun stepping up public and road safety measures ahead of Christmas and New Year, said national police chief Pol Gen Kittharath Punpetch, adding these measures are split into two associated areas: crime suppression and traffic safety.
In terms of crime prevention and suppression, police organisations have since Dec 17 been instructed to step up crackdowns on illegal activities, including gambling, narcotics-related crimes, crimes involving illegal firearms and cybercrime, he said.
Some illegal activities which might seem to be petty to and even considered festive by some people could actually lead to a fatal consequence, such as firing a gun into the air and flying a lantern, he said.
Other common illegal activities for the police to watch out for during any long holidays include road racing and teenage brawls, which are likely to be followed by an attack at a hospital where injured parties are treated, he said.
As for the road safety operation, the RTP has set up a central operation centre to coordinate the work by police organisations nationwide as much as possible to prevent road accidents from Friday until Jan 9, he said.
Under this operation, police are aiming to crack down on about 10 main offences which contribute to road accidents during the festive season, particularly driving under the influence of alcohol, he said.
Security checkpoints have been being set up to randomly screen motorists for the blood alcohol level in their system and stop people from driving drunk, he said.
Kittharath: Eyes crime suppression
Sasikarn: Notes decline in accidents
