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463 die in New Year crashes


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463 die in New Year crashes

By The Nation

 

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A total of 463 people died and 3,892 others were wounded in 3,791 road accidents over the New Year holiday's so-called seven dangerous days (December 27-January 2), the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department’s Road Safety Centre announced.

 

This year's figures saw a decease in crashes and injuries and an increase in deaths while drink driving was cited as the main cause of crashes, Deputy Interior Minister Suthee Makboon told the media. Last year's New Year reported 423 deaths and 4,005 injuries in 3,841 road crashes.

 

The southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat had the most crashes with 118 cases and the highest casualties at 137 injuries, while the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima had the highest fatalities with 25 deaths. Only Tak, Phrae, Satun and Samut Songkhram reported no deaths in road accidents. 

 

Drink driving was blamed for 40 per cent followed by speeding with 28 per cent, Suthee said. These two causes, combined with another factor of motorists suddenly cutting in front of other vehicles, were all regarded as driver behaviour so the authorities would campaign for driving discipline and road safety consciousness, he said.

 

Accidents involving motorcycles accounted for 80 per cent of crashes and 28 per cent occurred from 4pm to 8pm, he added.

 

On January 2 alone there were 369 road accidents killing 44 people and wounding 391 others, Suthee said. Ayutthaya had the day's most crashes with 17 incidents and most injuries with 18. On January 2, officers at 2,052 checkpoints recorded around 182,000 traffic violations. This included 41,473 motorists who failed to produce a driver's licence and 46,284 motorcyclists were stopped for riding without helmets, he said.

 

National Council for Peace and Order spokeswoman Colonel Sirichan Nga-thong said 3,859 motorcycles, 1,305 automobiles and 8,312 driver's licences had been seized from drink drivers during the seven days.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30361551

 
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-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-01-03
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18 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Hardly surprising. My trip back to Chiang Mai from Chiang Rai yesterday had at least a dozen occasions of drivers overtaking on blind curves. It's almost like they have a death wish.

Nah, that would be called critical thinking, which they don't have.

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1 hour ago, webfact said:

 . . . so the authorities would campaign for driving discipline and road safety consciousness, he said

'Campaigning for driving discipline and road safety consciousness' . . . Boy, I'll feel so much better, knowing that, as I pull out, onto the H22 racetrack. Campaigning simply for better driving would have ticked more boxes though. Always these big Interior Ministry words that someone's dug out of the dictionary before they retreat back into their caves . . . till a fortnight before Songkran.

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Hardly surprising. My trip back to Chiang Mai from Chiang Rai yesterday had at least a dozen occasions of drivers overtaking on blind curves. It's almost like they have a death wish.
They haven't the imagination to fear what's round those blind corners, or over the other side of the brow of a hill.

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44 people die in one day .! These figures would not be out of place in a War zone ..  A bit earlier there was another thread suggesting a slight improvement over the prev' years toll .. How can 44 dying in ONE day be seen as anything other than a National tragedy and a damning indictment on the authorities inability to get to grips with it .. Utterly shameful that this continues .. but continue it will with no doubt the next spike in numbers during the Songkran thing .. 

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1 hour ago, webfact said:

These two causes, combined with another factor of motorists suddenly cutting in front of other vehicles, were all regarded as driver behaviour so the authorities would campaign for driving discipline and road safety consciousness, he said.

Not to mention overtaking on hills, driving on the wrong side of the road and against oncoming traffic, making u-turns where they are not allowed, turning onto main roads without looking left or right, blatantly disregarding any and all speed limits, "forgetting" to set the indicator before swerving or turning, checking social media messages or make-up/hairdo and taking phone calls while behind the wheel, driving at night without lights turned on, running red lights, disregarding any road signage, tailgating and keeping no safety distance whatsoever and regardless of traveling speed, and, and, and.

 

The Interior Ministry may "campaign for driving discipline" as much as it wants. Nothing will change in the road carnage statistics unless comprehensive driver training is introduced and consistently applied, as well as punishments for erroneous driving/DUI/driving without license/etc. drastically increased and meted out without leniency.  

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44 people die in one day .! These figures would not be out of place in a War zone ..  A bit earlier there was another thread suggesting a slight improvement over the prev' years toll .. How can 44 dying in ONE day be seen as anything other than a National tragedy and a damning indictment on the authorities inability to get to grips with it .. Utterly shameful that this continues .. but continue it will with no doubt the next spike in numbers during the Songkran thing .. 
That's below the annual daily average. Take away day one and day seven of this period. The average in five days was over seventy

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3 hours ago, Lacessit said:

My trip back to Chiang Mai from Chiang Rai yesterday had at least a dozen occasions of drivers overtaking on blind curves. It's almost like they have a death wish.

Frequently on these northern roads I find this to be the most dangerous highway in the district. Madness at every moment. There is no almost about it, a death wish it has to be.

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So there is a road safety department. Great. I hope they get roads in better condition by resurfacing, relining, and better signage and lighting including signals and even removing distracting things from intersections like big TV advertisements of bikini girls.

 

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8 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Hardly surprising. My trip back to Chiang Mai from Chiang Rai yesterday had at least a dozen occasions of drivers overtaking on blind curves. It's almost like they have a death wish.

Could it be they had a "sex wish" to get back home to make more Thais to make up for the losses on the road?

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14 hours ago, mark131v said:

A Boeing 747 a week, week on week year on year

 

Darwinism in action but good to see they are still making excuses rather than trying to sort it out, speaks volumes....

 

Yes If a 747 crashed every week there'd be a hue and cry but one here, and a couple there on the roads?Nah,roll out a new "campaign" and that'll fix it.No wonder there's so many be-medalled chaps around fighting all these "campaigns"

 

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