The first year I came to LOS I had this in Pattaya.I was renting bike bikes and at the back of Jomtien they nearly killed me when I got a bucket of water in the face from a pick up while riding.I stayed up .Parked the bike for 10 days and never went back to Pattaya during Songkran again. Esan has succumbed to the uncivilized water throwing idiots but as you say only for three days thankfully.
Well ,not opening Shopping Malls until 10 am , closing Service stations at midnight and not selling alcohol between 2pm and 5 pm [I'm not sure of the times] were all Shinawatra ideas and look how well they worked. So why not a month long Songkran ?
I had a bad experience in Korat when a bar a mate and I were at had a table of drunk Thais acting like dickheads. Maha Sarakaham coppers have had a bad reputation for a long time.
In about that same area a few years ago ,I watched 5 pick up fly past us each about 2 feeet from the one in front.I said that's an accident waiting to happen. Sure enough another couple of miles on , 5 pickup smashed into the back of one another as the first one must have jammed the brakes on for some reason.People dead , dying or mangled.Just another day on Thai roads.