2,140 vehicles impounded from drunk drivers

More than 2,000 vehicles have been impounded from drunk drivers by soldiers and police manning road checkpoints across the country as part of the New Year holiday road safety campaign.

Col Sirichan Nga-thong, deputy spokeswoman of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), said on Saturday that a total of 2,140 vehicles — 1,952 motorcycles and 188 cars — were temporarily seized from drunken drivers between Dec 25 and Jan 1.  

Authorities have also taken action against 16,650 motorcyclists and 6,565 drivers of public and private vehicles for violations of the drink-driving ban during the eight-day period, she said.

On Jan 1 alone, there were 6,091 violations of the ban involving motorcycles, with 740 bikes impounded and 5,216 motorcyclists facing legal action, said the NCPO deputy spokeswoman.

On violations involving public and private vehicles, there were a total of 2,667 violations on Friday, with 238 driving licences and 96 vehicles seized. A total of 2,242 drivers faced legal action.

The action taken was in line with army chief Theerachai Nakwanich's order to arrest people found to be driving while drunk and impound their vehicles. The seized cars and motorcycles could be reclaimed from Jan 5.

Col Sirichan said New Year celebrations in many venues across the country went smoothly, with no reports of unusual incidents. "The NCPO thanked officers and officials from all agencies for performing their tasks to maintain peace and order at all celebrating venues."