Songkran death toll higher than last year, statistics show

[webfact]

Songkran death toll higher than last year, statistics show

By THE NATION

 

File photo

 

THIS YEAR’S Songkran festivities saw a higher death toll – 418 – compared to last year’s 390, the Road Safety Centre said yesterday.

 

This year also saw a higher number of injured people with 3,897 cases in 3,724 road accidents. Last year, 3,808 people were injured in 3,690 road crashes. 

 

Most of the road carnage this Songkran stemmed from drunk-driving (40 per cent) and speeding (26 per cent) and 80 per cent of accidents involved motorcycles and 65 per cent took place on straight roads, Deputy Interior Minister Suthee Makboon told the media.

 

During the seven-day monitoring period (April 11-17), Nakhon Ratchasima, the “gateway to the Northeast”, reported the highest accumulated death toll (20) while the northern province of Chiang Mai had the highest number of injured (142) and accidents (133), he said. Only Ranong, Samut Songkhram, Nong Khai and Nong Bua Lamphu reported no road accident deaths during Songkran, he added.

 

 

On Tuesday alone, there were 307 accidents that killed 26 people and wounded 336 others. Speeding was blamed for 28 per cent of accidents, drunk driving for 26 per cent and suddenly cutting in front of another vehicle for 19 per cent. 

 

On Tuesday, officers manning 2,029 checkpoints nationwide arrested 146,589 motorists; 39,572 motorcyclists and their passengers for not wearing crash helmets and 37,779 people for not having a driver’s licence.

 

Meanwhile, the number of vehicles seized from drunk drivers during this Songkran–16,288 – was a 100 per cent increase over the previous Songkran, National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) and Army deputy spokeswoman Colonel Sirichan Ngathong told a separate press conference yesterday. 

 

The NCPO and related authorities, from April 11-17, had identified 490,512 cases of drunk driving (280,631 motorcyclists and 208,881 motorists), down 38 per cent from the previous year, she said. 

 

 

As many violators were slapped with fines and their driving licences confiscated, the officers also impounded 16,288 vehicles (11,768 motorcycles and 4,520 cars/trucks) from such drunk drivers. During the previous Songkran, 8,128 vehicles were impounded, she said.

 

In a mean time, national police deputy chief Pol General Chalermkiat Srivorakan said 8,348 houses nationwide had joined the vacation home-watch scheme for April 11-17 and none of those houses had any instances of theft. So far owners of 6,598 houses had returned from vacation. 

 

He said the number of participating houses this Songkran was a 40.8 per cent increase, or 2,421 houses more than those that participated in the scheme last Songkran. The police smartphone application “Police I lert U” was downloaded 29,576 times during April 4-15, bringing the total app download to 354,566 times, he said although only 134 users alerted police of emergency/crimes using the app.

 

During April 11-17, a total of 213 crimes to life or bodily injury took place and suspects were apprehended in 125 cases. Of these crimes, 100 cases were about physical assault and 72 suspects were apprehended for 47 such physical assault cases. There were nine murder cases and police had arrested the suspects, he added. A total of 422 crimes targeting assets took place – in 227 cases police nabbed the suspects.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30343425

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-04-19

[Thaiwrath]

PM Prayut thanks all sides for ensuring public safety during Songkran

 

Just about sums him up.

[kannot]

17 minutes ago, webfact said:

On Tuesday, officers manning 2,029 checkpoints nationwide arrested 146,589 motorists; 39,572 motorcyclists and their passengers for not wearing crash helmets and 37,779 people for not having a driver’s licence.

Tells you all you need  to know about Thais and the generalisations so often sneered at on Thai Visa and  subsequently removed are  pretty much spot  on.

[kannot]

44 minutes ago, webfact said:

8,348 houses nationwide had joined the vacation home-watch scheme for April 11-17

Another raging  success then, whens the PM gonna congratulate them

[PatOngo]

Today is Songkran madness day in Pattaya, no doubt a few will meet their maker today but will not be eligible for the 7 day body count!

[webfact]

More Thais die on new year roads despite new safety campaign

 

FILE PHOTO: Bystanders look as volunteers help an injured motorcycle taxi driver at the scene of a road accident during the Songkran festival in Bangkok, April 13, 2013. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj/File Photo

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - More than 400 people died in road accidents in Thailand over the traditional new year holiday, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday, higher than the year before despite a new road safety campaign.

 

The ministry said 418 people were killed in 3,724 accidents during the April 11-17 Songkran holiday week, up from 390 deaths in the holiday period last year.

 

"The most common cause of accidents was speeding, accounting for 27.69 percent of accidents," Deputy Interior Minister Sutee Markboon said of the holiday known as the "Seven Deadly Days".

 

In April, when many Thais hit the road to visit family and friends, the government sets targets for reducing road fatalities and urges people not to drink and drive and to wear helmets on motorcycles.

 

Traditionally, Thais perform ritual cleansings, including of Buddhist statues at temples, to mark the new year but that has developed into what many people refer to as the world's biggest water fight, with revellers throwing water at cars and motorbikes, which often swerve to avoid getting doused.

 

This year, the government launched a new road safety campaign dubbed "Drive with courtesy, adhere to road rules" and aired videos showing images of the road carnage.

 

But critics say the hard-hitting public service announcements are not getting through to people.

 

Emergency responders say traffic laws are rarely enforced and there is insufficient road safety education.

 

"Anybody can get a license," said Sommai Nisungkat, 53, a Bangkok taxi driver.

 

"I see people on the road everyday who have obviously never had a formal driving lesson in their life. Anyone with a bit of money can pay under-the-table money to buy a drivers' license," he said.

 

(Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Darren Schuettler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-19

[BigBadGeordie]

11 minutes ago, webfact said:

"Anybody can get a license," said Sommai Nisungkat, 53, a Bangkok taxi driver.

 

"I see people on the road everyday who have obviously never had a formal driving lesson in their life. Anyone with a bit of money can pay under-the-table money to buy a drivers' license," he said.

Oh the irony.

[BobBKK]

43 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Today is Songkran madness day in Pattaya, no doubt a few will meet their maker today but will not be eligible for the 7 day body count!

That's the point the total is far higher unfortunately but Prayut thinks it's a great success!

[PatOngo]

12 minutes ago, webfact said:

Emergency responders say traffic laws are rarely enforced and there is insufficient road safety education.

 

It goes way beyond road safety education, it's education in general, until they can change the collective mentality of the masses, little will change, though is blatantly obvious that the PTB is more than satisfied with the level of education. 

[PatOngo]

This doesn't bode well for the remainder of the year. The RTP will now back off after a hectic 7 days and go back to their regular mode of operation. 30,000 fatalities is not beyond the realm of possibility for the year!

[YetAnother]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Speeding was blamed for 28 per cent of accidents, drunk driving for 26 per cent and suddenly cutting in front of another vehicle for 19 per cent. 

boil it all down to bad judgment, a thai staple

[RichardColeman]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

THIS YEAR’S Songkran festivities saw a higher death toll – 418 – compared to last year’s 390, the Road Safety Centre said yesterday

I'm guessing the Road Safety Centre must be staffed by all the inactive transfers - being inactive !

[mok199]

thai( mostlymales )who live with this ''maverick'' attitude, and refuse to grow up, are destroying this once amazing kingdom....get serious about enforcing the law or Shut The <deleted> Up,.. call in some outside help ...cause I for one am getting tired of this cycle of pie charts ,period costumes, promises and probes,in order to deflect the truth .Thailand on its own ''cannot change'' ...Na Bura.,buat hua....and fix the beach while your at it...do something right ...sawadee pi mai.

[Wiggy]

The rules will never be enforced as that would be "mai sanook". 

[petedk]

I was out driving last Saturday and I don't think I have ever seen such bad driving from Thais. 

 

2 accidents on Ekamai, at least 2 or 3 close shaves with cars or motorbikes cutting me off.

I experienced my first ever "road rage" on the motorway. I was doing 120 and the cars in front of me started to break, at the same time some idiot tried to squeeze in front of me , so I flashed my headlights. He then slammed on his brakes. I pulled over to the inside lane and slowed down (wife screamed at me), the idiot pulled over in front of me again and slammed on his brakes. I pulled over to the soft verge to stop and luckily he decided he was in too much of a hurry to stop.

 

I must admit i feel like quitting driving here in Thailand, but then again I am too terrified to take the vans or buses.

 

[AhFarangJa]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Most of the road carnage this Songkran stemmed from drunk-driving (40 per cent) and speeding (26 per cent)

 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

"The most common cause of accidents was speeding, accounting for 27.69 percent of accidents," Deputy Interior Minister Sutee Markboon said

I wish the left hand would talk to the right hand.............

[NCC1701A]

 

[Thian]

25 minutes ago, mok199 said:

thai( mostlymales )who live with this ''maverick'' attitude, and refuse to grow up, are destroying this once amazing kingdom....get serious about enforcing the law or Shut The F$%k Up,.. call in some outside help ...cause I for one am getting tired of this cycle of pie charts ,period costumes, promises and probes,in order to deflect the truth .Thailand on its own ''cannot change'' ...Na Bura.,buat hua....and fix the beach while your at it...do something right ...sawadee pi mai.

I'm also tired of all the crackdowns and so, NOTHING seems to help....and the police just can't/won't do it, so replace them or just accept it the way it is.

[mikebell]

The lead picture perfectly sums up Thailand's road carnage: a cop inspecting a wrecked car AFTER the event.  Until the police get proactive all year round, nothing will change.  All these check points merely clog up traffic whilst a few are deemed to have failed a sobriety test.  The real killers are the brainless speedsters who weave at speed without a cop in sight.

[lvr181]

Surprise!

 

And yet the PM and his Government DO NOT learn from their "failed" crackdowns, year in and year out!

 

Is this a cultural problem? 

[arithai12]

390 and 418 are, statistically speaking, about the same outcome.

 

[wotsdermatter]

We have been provided stats., probably stemming from the police, but how many more were paid under the table so that they were not included?  Just curious.

Edited April 19, 2018 by wotsdermatter
more information added

[kimchibob]

Not over yet. The mass exodus from Pattaya begins tonight.

[oldlakey]

1 hour ago, AhFarangJa said:

 

I wish the left hand would talk to the right hand.............

We are back to education with that

[lvr181]

1 minute ago, oldlakey said:

We are back to education with that

 They need to learn which is left and which is right? 555 

[oldlakey]

23 minutes ago, arithai12 said:

390 and 418 are, statistically speaking, about the same outcome.

 

Not for the 28 as they are DEAD

[Old Croc]

59 minutes ago, petedk said:

I experienced my first ever "road rage" on the motorway. I was doing 120 and the cars in front of me started to break, at the same time some idiot tried to squeeze in front of me , so I flashed my headlights. He then slammed on his brakes. I pulled over to the inside lane and slowed down (wife screamed at me), the idiot pulled over in front of me again and slammed on his brakes. I pulled over to the soft verge to stop and luckily he decided he was in too much of a hurry to stop.

You were in fast moving traffic, cars in front started to "brake" just as someone was cutting in front of you. A potentially dangerous situation.

Instead of taking defensive action you flashed your lights at the offender. How very Thai of you. Did you sound the horn as well?

From my observations, all too often accidents here occur because, when things go wrong, many Thai's first instinct is to hit the horn rather than brake or steer out of trouble.

Westerners should be better trained in accident avoidance, also aware of the psychotic nature of many Thai males on the roads and avoid triggering their madness. I learnt that lesson early in my tenure here and my middle finger has remained sheathed ever since.

[siamcrut]

The lead picture perfectly sums up Thailand's road carnage: a cop inspecting a wrecked car AFTER the event.  Until the police get proactive all year round, nothing will change.  All these check points merely clog up traffic whilst a few are deemed to have failed a sobriety test.  The real killers are the brainless speedsters who weave at speed without a cop in sight.

He is just inspecting the vegetables and the other stuff in the trunk....

[amdy2206]

Nearly half a million cases of drunken drivers - who were caught. That is totally astounding. And only in 7 days. Unbelievable!!!

[Janner1]

1 hour ago, petedk said:

I was out driving last Saturday and I don't think I have ever seen such bad driving from Thais. 

 

2 accidents on Ekamai, at least 2 or 3 close shaves with cars or motorbikes cutting me off.

I experienced my first ever "road rage" on the motorway. I was doing 120 and the cars in front of me started to break, at the same time some idiot tried to squeeze in front of me , so I flashed my headlights. He then slammed on his brakes. I pulled over to the inside lane and slowed down (wife screamed at me), the idiot pulled over in front of me again and slammed on his brakes. I pulled over to the soft verge to stop and luckily he decided he was in too much of a hurry to stop.

 

I must admit i feel like quitting driving here in Thailand, but then again I am too terrified to take the vans or buses.

 

I understand you completely, but why don’t you install a camera ? At least then you will have the proof of them forcing you to  ram them!