Holiday carnage at 284 dead, less than last year
A total of 284 people were killed and 2,307 others injured in 2,288 road accidents during the seven days of the New Year road safety campaign, with Bangkok chalking up the most deaths.
The Interior Ministry’s deputy permanent secretary, Chotenarin Kerdsom, said at a press conference on Friday that this year’s carnage was lower than in the same period last year.
During a seven-day road safety campaign between December 29, 2022, and January 4, 2023, there were 2,440 road accidents, with 317 people dead and 2,437 others wounded, according to data collected by the Interior Ministry’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.
At Friday’s press conference held at the department offices, Chotenarin attributed the decrease in road accidents, fatalities, and injury cases to hard work by local officials in preventing “risky behaviours” among motorists as well as cooperation from public members to improve road safety.
Risky behaviours include drunk driving, speeding, driving against the traffic, and failing to wear a crash helmet.
At 19, Bangkok saw the most fatalities of the campaign period from December 29, 2023 to January 4, 2024, he said on Friday.
At 82, Kanchanaburi province had the most road accidents, along with the most accumulative injury cases at 89.
Zero deaths from road accidents were reported in 11 provinces: Krabi, Kalasin, Chai Nat, Tak, Nakhon Nayok, Pattani, Phichit, Mae Hong Son, Satun, Samut Songkhram, and Amnat Charoen.
The last day of this year’s campaign on Thursday (January 4) saw 200 road accidents nationwide, with 17 deaths and 205 injury cases reported, Chotenarin told the media.
He said the main causes of road accidents on January 4 were speeding (48.5%), abrupt lane changes (22%), and poor visibility (14%).
Most of the accidents (88.7%) involved motorcycles, and most of them (85%) occurred on sections of straight road.
Tak province reported the most road accidents at 12 yesterday, and the northern province also saw the highest number of injury cases (15). Most road fatalities yesterday were reported in Roi Et and Suphan Buri, with three cases each.
Meanwhile, Chaiwat Junthirapong, the director-general of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, said at Friday’s press conference that relevant agencies would analyse the collected data and factors of road accidents to help to reduce the future death toll.
He said the goal was to reduce road fatalities to a national rate of no more than 12 per 100,000 population by 2027. Thailand’s road fatalities have been reduced from 36 per 100,000 population in 2011 to 26 in 2022.
