77 Deaths on the 3rd of “7 High Risk Travel Days”

Published : January 01, 2010 :: 16:01:44 [ 523 views ]

Seventy-seven persons died in road accidents across Thailand on New Year’s Eve, raising the cumulative number of fatalities for the first three days of the “seven high risk travel days” during the New Year holiday season to 168.

Bangkok, the 1st of January 2010 [TNA]: Director-General Anucha Mokaves of the national disaster prevention and response programme said on New Year’s Day that 709 driving accidents occurred on New Year’s Eve, leaving 763 persons injured, some severely.

Compared to last year, fatalities have fallen seven per cent from 83 to 77, while the number of accidents has dropped by 16 per cent, from 851 to 709.

The disaster chief said the main causes of the 1,824 accidents in the three days were drunken driving, followed by speeding while driving. Most accidents involved motorcycles and occurred at night.

The government launched its “seven high risk travel days” campaign beginning Tuesday to extend through Monday in a bid to reduce road accidents over the long holiday. The campaign is aimed at cutting casualties among New Year revelers and the wider populace by five per cent from last year.

The northern province of Chiang Mai and the central province of Ayutthaya recorded the highest numbers of fatalities, Mr Anucha said, while no accidents were recorded in Samut Songkram, Sing Buri and Yasothon provinces.

Mr Anucha said the department directed provincial authorities nationwide to pay special attention to young drivers. Statistics of recent years showed that of all casualties, some 30 per cent or one in three were young drivers who were killed or injured, while another 20 per cent were arrested for violating traffic rules.

The director-general said during the first three days of the holiday 180,952 persons were cited for violating traffic rules. Most did not have driver’s licenses and did not wear helmets while riding motorcycles.

Officials manning road checkpoints across the country were asked to monitor ten likely behaviours including drunken driving, speeding, riding without a helmet, telephoning while driving, cutting in front of other cars, and not using seat belts, Mr Anucha said. (TNA)

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