Drunk driving ‘a major cause’ of road accidents

By THE NATION

 

 

Police to look for more safety measures; may seek higher budget

 

DRUNK DRIVING is seen as a major cause for fatalities after 323 people were killed and 3,140 others were injured in 3,001 crashes during the first five days of the Songkran seven-day accident-monitoring period (April 11-17), the Road Safety Centre announced yesterday. 

 

On Sunday alone, drunk driving was the cause of 42 per cent of 552 road accidents in which 69 people were killed and 589 injured, Damrong Limaphirak, the Education Ministry adviser on policy and strategy, said at the centre’s press conference.

 

 

Speeding played a role in 26 per cent of accidents, while 79 per cent involved motorcycles, Damrong said.

 

All the figures for the five-day period were an increase over numbers from last Songkran, which saw 283 people killed and 3,087 wounded in 2,985 road crashes. 

 

Chiang Mai continued to chalk up the highest number of accidents, at 119 cases and 136 injured over the five days. At 19, Nakhon Ratchasima recorded the highest accumulated death toll. 

 

Only seven provinces – Yala, Ranong, Satun, Samut Songkhram, Nong Khai, Nong Bua Lamphu and Angthong – did not report any deaths from road accidents during Songkran.

 

Damrong said 21,829 drivers were arrested at checkpoints nationwide for drunk driving. 

 

 

He conceded that although more drunk drivers were caught and taken off the streets, road accidents continued to increase. The Royal Thai Police committee to beef up road safety measures will consider additional actions, including heavier punishments for repeated offenders and increasing the budget for purchasing breathalysers and speed radar.

 

Meanwhile, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) and related authorities have seized a total of 10,099 vehicles (7,372 motorcycles and 2,727 cars and trucks) from drunk drivers from April 11-15, said NCPO and Army deputy spokeswoman Colonel Sirichan Ngathong. On Sunday alone, the authorities seized 2,069 motorcycles and 814 cars from drunk drivers, she said. 

 

 

Chiang Rai, Maha Sarakham and Surin topped the list of provinces for most number of drunk drivers caught in the first five days of Songkran. Thousands of offenders were immediately slapped with probation and dozens had monitoring devices attached to their ankles to keep them off the roads.

 

Probation Department director-general Prasarn Mahaleetrakul said the five days saw 3,460 motorists arrested and placed on probation across the country. In all, there were 6,707 arrests, of which 97.5 per cent were for drunk driving. The remainder were for reckless driving (21 cases), street racing (two) and driving under the influence of narcotics (143), Prasarn said. Chiang Rai clocked up the most drunk-driving cases with 455, followed by Maha Sarakham at 394 and Surin at 313. 

 

Since April 13, the department had attached electronic monitoring devices to the ankles of 37 drunk drivers placed on probation, in accordance with court-mandated conditions. The devices prevent them from leaving their homes between 10pm and 4am for 15 days. Given one year’s probation, they must report four times to probation officials and do 24 hours of community service.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30343266

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-04-17

Harder punishment plus police on patrol doing policing is hardly needed.....why is that too hard to see for the Thai? I have never seen police doing there job well, they love to sit in open tents playing on computers.

59 minutes ago, webfact said:

"DRUNK DRIVING is seen as a major cause for fatalities after 323 people were killed and 3,140 others were injured in 3,001 crashes during the first five days of the Songkran seven-day accident-monitoring period (April 11-17), the Road Safety Centre announced yesterday."

An official body telling the truth? Their specialist subject is: stating the bleedin' obvious.

 

If everyone Driving or Riding in Thailand were sober, tomorrow for the next year.

I reckon the Death rate and Accident rate would not change very much.

You see Somchai,  will drive or ride the same , sober or drunk.

Thailand needs an attitude adjustment to driving and riding,  not the smoke screen of drunk driving to hide behind.

It's just to much of a loss of face,  to call people bad, because of the way they behave on the roads in Thailand. 

 

Oops said it now !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 16, 20188 yr by stanleycoin

52 minutes ago, webfact said:

Drunk driving ‘a major cause’ of road accidents the Road Safety Centre announced yesterday

 

Well done "Road Safety Centre", all those years of funding have resulted in some brilliant research!

 

Governments around the world will be applauding Thailand's road safety scientists.

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, nkg said:

Drunk driving ‘a major cause’ of road accidents the Road Safety Centre announced yesterday

The whole country is free to drink and drive 350 days a year the other 15 days an effort is made to catch them and the result is obvious - huge numbers are caught.

 

These efforts need be ongoing 365 days a year and eventually after a couple of years people will start getting the message to leave the car at home.

 

- 365 days a year detection

 

- mandatory breath tests for everyone involved in an accident - refusal is an automatic conviction and also applies to those doing a runner

 

- stiff penalties for those that are caught

 

farangs are just as bad as Thais insisting on bringing a vehicle out to party - they would not do it back home because they know there is a huge chance of being caught and the consequences for most are dire.

 

Thailand should send some people to the UK on a fact finding mission and adopt/implement  the same procedures laws and detection methods used there.

 

Perhaps when software and automation takes over the responsibility of driving we will see huge improvements in Thailand but that is a long way off

 

This needs firm action now not just posting statistics and doing nothing about it. 

 

 

Edited April 16, 20188 yr by smedly

"Drunk driving ‘a major cause’ of road accidents"

Stop the presses!!! Thailand has just made another earth shattering discovery. What's next? Enforcing existing laws reduces crime?

Edited April 17, 20188 yr by jaltsc

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The Royal Thai Police committee to beef up road safety measures will consider additional actions, including heavier punishments for repeated offenders and increasing the budget for purchasing breathalysers and speed radar.

I knew it would have to be in there somewhere.

The RTP never disappoint.

Should it not be ......... Drink driving and ............... poor driving test standards, half the classes these days are sleeping during the induction videos. Got to start at the beginning, if people aren't being taught how to drive correctly then road carnage results.

 

Driving at excessive speed, jumping red lights, texting while driving, poor lane management, zero consideration for other road users.

 

Poor vehicle maintenance - seems every bus crash is the result of failed brakes - or drivers stoned out of their heads, at that to the list too.

 

Over loaded vehicles. if you need to transport ten people, then get a mini bus - but without addressing the above multiple deaths is still then end result.

Surely this is fake news, drink driving major cause of road accidents !!

 

Edited April 17, 20188 yr by colinneil

The highways are insane here and yes its a 365 days a year problem and not just songkran. Average 64 deaths a day, thats a shed load of people losing their life, very sad indeed. Amazingly too, over 21 thousand drivers/riders busted for drink driving which to me clearly shows that the law is of little deterrent to people here. 21K in 5 days, wonder what the figures are like in more developed countries? Nonetheless, for me totally unacceptable but I dont see it changing anytime soon, sad loss of life everyday in Thailand with the me me me attitude of these drink drivers.

Surely this is fake news, drink driving major cause of road accidents !!
Person who said that...WOW !! must have used a lot of brain power to come up with that.

So if a reporter asks the authorities what the major cause of road deaths is, what response would be appropriate? What should be reported?


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

brilliant deduction holmes....but I would argue and say ...thais inability to sit more than 5 minutes without dozzing off #1....

13 minutes ago, BigBadGeordie said:

I knew it would have to be in there somewhere.

The RTP never disappoint.

It's ALWAYS what "they" are going to do. NEVER what they've done and the results. LOL lol 

Hell let me enter my hat...... I'm going to get 10 years younger....

2 hours ago, stanleycoin said:

You see Somchai,  will drive or ride the same , sober or drunk.

Sooo true!!!

No, drunk driving is not a major cause of road accidents. It's the irresponsible, stupid, selfish, numskulls who drink and drive that are a major cause of road accidents.

Edited April 17, 20188 yr by Wiggy

"Drunk driving ‘a major cause’ of road accidents"

  No foolin them?

When you combine selfish, speeding, reckless, law ignoring drivers, with a skinful of grog, is anyone surprised at the accident rate? Hardly needs a genius to work it out.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Since April 13, the department had attached electronic monitoring devices to the ankles of 37 drunk drivers placed on probation, in accordance with court-mandated conditions.

37 out of 22,000 ? Better order more bracelets ! Unless the bracelet money has been used on a family bracelet producing company 100 times the cost of a normal one.

This ground-breaking discovery is almost as valuable as the cure for ebola and herbal cancer pills.

3 hours ago, Thian said:

Harder punishment plus police on patrol doing policing is hardly needed.....why is that too hard to see for the Thai? I have never seen police doing there job well, they love to sit in open tents playing on computers.

Mobile police patrols seem not to exist. The police seem to be stationary, reactive and not proactive as far as roadway safety.

no real punishments, no real worries. was reading the geordie guy, ant declan from ant and dec got done for drink driving. 86,000 GBP fine and 20 month ban. Seems it's taken somewhat seriously in other parts of the world

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Drunk driving ‘a major cause’ of road accidents

Oh...really?  How perceptive of The Nation! 

15 minutes ago, Benmart said:

Mobile police patrols seem not to exist. The police seem to be stationary, reactive and not proactive as far as roadway safety.

"The police seem to be stationary,..."  Hence the Government's correct terminology of "crackdown"!!   

" ..... related authorities have seized a total of 10,099 vehicles (7,372 motorcycles and 2,727 cars and trucks) ..... "

 

Where the hell to they keep all these vehicles ... and is it the Police or Admin people who look after the storage and release ? If its the Police Officers, that takes a hell of a lot of them off the roads whilst accounting for these vehicles etc. ... when they should be out there catching the drunks ....

Cars with autonomous driving will solve the problem if the people embrace them. Not sure if the roads here are up to standard though. [emoji41]

PLEASE REMEMBER...the number of everything normally goes up when there are more people...population growth.  Also, a better economy will increase those working which increases driving, drinking, and simply more motorbikes on the road.

4 minutes ago, shady86 said:

Cars with autonomous driving will solve the problem if the people embrace them. Not sure if the roads here are up to standard though.

You are the supreme optimist. 

Where are the police when they are needed?  Sitting by the roadside, getting paid overtime to study their phones!

i agree about Farangs riding/driving drunk. i see it every day in Pattaya (especially  with scooters) the full timers seem to like to drink  all afternoon, with their ex pat mates and about 4 pm, get on their scooters and wobble off home to the misses, something they would not dream of in their own country, i am talking ALL nationalities here.