Road accidents claim 34 lives on Friday – 1st day of New Year holiday break
Friday, the first of the four-day New Year holiday break, saw 339 road accidents, in which 34 people were killed and 335 others injured.
The highest number of accidents occurred in the Northeast province of Khon Kaen, which recorded 24 car crashes on Friday, while Prachinburi saw the highest road toll at four, Interior Ministry’s deputy permanent secretary Chotenarin Kerdsom said.
The data was released by the Interior Ministry’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) on Saturday.
Chotenarin added that Khon Kaen also recorded the highest number of injured people from road accidents on Friday, with 23 individuals.
The major causes of the accidents were speeding and drunk driving at 39.2% and 23.1%, respectively, he said.
Chotenarin chairs a subcommittee tasked with preventing and minimising road accidents.
He also said that 86% of the road crashes involved motorcycles and most (86.4%) occurred on straight roads. About 41% of the accidents took place on highways and 32.4% on village roads. Most accidents occurred during the evening, usually between 6 and 7pm, and the largest number of those killed or injured are aged between 20 and 29, DDPM said.
Chotenarin said on Saturday that the ministry is working with provincial authorities to ensure the strict enforcement of traffic laws and discourage “risky behaviour” such as drunk driving, speeding and failure to use safety equipment like crash helmets and seatbelts.
He added that this was in line with Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s push for safe driving and his campaign against drunk driving.
Meanwhile, local authorities have been instructed to take pre-emptive measures to prevent crashes at risky spots like junctions or areas under repair or construction, Chotenarin said.
Deputy National Police chief General Surachate Hakparn said the ultimate goal is to keep road accidents as low as possible. He said that police chiefs in provinces that have seen a surge in accidents have been instructed to focus on village roads. He added that this year, the number of accidents related to speeding has surpassed those related to drunk driving. This, he said, maybe thanks to successful campaigns against drunk driving.
