Road accidents claim 333 lives over Thailand’s ‘7 dangerous days’
Road accidents claimed 333 lives over the New Year break’s "seven dangerous days”, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM).
A total of 2,707 road accidents were recorded from December 29 to January 4, resulting in 2,672 injuries.
Chiang Mai had the highest number of accidents at 96, while Bangkok saw the greatest death toll (22). Chiang Mai and Kanchanaburi recorded the most injuries, at 93 each.
Nine provinces recorded no road deaths during this period – namely Trang, Nakhon Nayok, Pattani, Phang Nga, Yala, Satun, Samut Songkhram, Sukhothai and Phrae.
Tuesday, the last day of the danger period, saw 209 road accidents, 21 fatalities and 202 injuries.
Speeding was behind more than one-third (34.45 per cent) of accidents while changing lanes caused 25.36 per cent. Most accidents (82.04 per cent) involved motorbikes and most crashes occurred between 6pm and 7pm.
Tuesday alone saw 78,340 motorists charged with breaking traffic laws – 23,131 for not wearing a helmet and 20,023 for driving without a licence.
The DDPM reported that accidents and deaths were 18.9 per cent lower than in the same period last year.
In 2016, Thailand recorded one of the highest road death tolls in the world at 32.7 people out of every 100,000 people.
The DDPM wants to reduce that number to 12 people per 100,000 by 2027.
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