41 deaths and 515 injured in road accidents on April 11 as the country is set to celebrate Songkran

BANGKOK: -- Up to 41 people were killed and 515 were injured in road accidents on Wednesday as the country was preparing to celebrate the Songkran Festival.

Transport Minister Admiral Theera Haocharoen Thursday revealed that drunk driving caused about one third of 435 accidents on Wednesday.

"More than 80 per cent of accidents involves motorcycles," he said.

This year, the official Songkran Holidays run from Friday to next Tuesday. However, a large number of people usually started their trips to visit their home provinces or tourist destinations ahead of the official holidays.

As hundreds of thousand people hit the roads during the festival, high road casualties have been reported during this period every year.

--The Nation 2007-04-12

Transport Minister Admiral Theera Haocharoen Thursday revealed that drunk driving caused about one third of 435 accidents on Wednesday.

does that mean that anybody involved in an accident (and survives) is tested for alcohol levels?

How many others will walk with him this week?....

Transport Minister Admiral Theera Haocharoen Thursday revealed that drunk driving caused about one third of 435 accidents on Wednesday.

does that mean that anybody involved in an accident (and survives) is tested for alcohol levels?

It is relatively easy to do toxicology tests post mortem for alcohol and other drugs. This is normally what is done to verigy if the person was under the influence at the time of death.

CB

Transport Minister Admiral Theera Haocharoen Thursday revealed that drunk driving caused about one third of 435 accidents on Wednesday.

So in less than 24 hours the police have done all the tests and interviewed all the survivors and witnesses and established that drunk driving caused one third of the accidents and that statistic has been communicated up to the transport minister.

That's impressive!

I was going to say "quite likely true but more likely the figure was obtained by applying the national statistic to the overall figure". But then I seem to remember a much higher figure for drink related accidents than 33% being quoted in the anti alchohol adverts campaign.

What happened to all the additional checkpoints to eliminate drunks from the roads. Oh yes I remember, they handed out "super sour" lollipops instead.

Start enforce stop talk, my guess is it will get worse. Let's all hope for the best.