Songkran Road Accidents Killed 299 People Nationwide

[webfact]

Songkran death toll 299

By Oran Lerdrattanadamrongkul

The Nation

Road accidents killed 299 people nationwide, with Nakhon Sawan leading the death tally at 13, over the first six of the "seven dangerous days" of Songkran. Bangkok and Ayutthaya were next the worst with 11 fatalities each, the Road Safety Centre said yesterday.

As of Saturday, 3,172 people had been injured in traffic accidents, with Nakhon Si Thammarat counting the most at 137, ahead of Chiang Rai at 114.

Nakhon Si Thammarat also recorded the most accidents at 129, trailed by Chiang Rai and Nakhon Sawan with 107 each.

On Saturday alone, 41 deaths and 386 injuries in 348 road accidents were reported. Nakhon Sawan was tops in accidents, deaths and injuries at 19, six and 22. Trang was next in accidents and injuries with 15 and 17. Kalasin was second in deaths with four.

As Songkran drew to a close yesterday, major arteries like Mittraphap Road in Nakhon Ratchasima were jammed with thousands of vehicles returning to big cities for the start of work today.

Korat's bus terminal was packed with passengers carrying large bags and parcels while waiting for coaches.

Wanlop Thepphakdi, director of the province's Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Division 5, said drinking and speeding were the most common causes of 171 accidents that left nine people dead and 183 injured during the six dangerous days in four provinces - Nakhon Ratchasima, Chaiyaphum, Buri Ram and Surin.

Chiang Mai Train Station was crowded with tourists heading home. Some of them could not get a ticket at the station, as many seats were already booked. Officials had promised to increase train services for tourists to travel to other provinces.

-- The Nation 2011-04-18

[fancyking]

Great

[bristolgeoff]

what was the figure last year to this year

[Teddy3943]

Every year there is consideration about restrictions on selling alcohol. Of course a child knows that this doesn't prevent alcohol abuse as the potential boozers can buy alcohol in advance or acquire it different ways.<br><br>A better prevention would be a ban on private traffic during Songkran. Only professional public transport should be allowed on the road. Let every crazy water thrower do their silly thing, but not traffic-wise. In Europe in the seventies there were car-less sundays. Worked amazingly well. Everybody who needed to travel motorized had to apply for a license for that particular day. <br><br>The only thing is here: There has to be police control and this is too much for the poor Thai police who works so hard already...<br>

[PaulDee]

what was the figure last year to this year

In 2010, there were officially 361 deaths and 3,802 injured during Songkran.

But the actual numbers may be a lot higher given the pressure on each province

to reduce deaths and accidents each successive year.

[PostmanPat]

Good riddance to the stupid stupid dumb Kho San Road fraternity who decamped to Chiang Mai for songkran and made a bloody nuisance of themselves.

Unfortunately Chiang Mai Songkran now ranks alongside those full moon parties where they drink themselves into oblivion, but at least at those events, they are on an island on a beach and dont adversely affect the lives of others.

I m definitely leaving Chiang Mai at Songkran next year. Bah, humbug, grumpy (but justifiably so) old man has spoken!!

[sexy man]

we've still got two more days of madness in pattaya

[happyjune]

"we've still got two more days of madness in pattaya"

That is only an opinion of course, I do dare say that this so called madness was already there before you chose to live there, so that makes you the mad one if complaining about it

Note, 19th April Pattaya will be awesome with some 20km of fun, thousands of pickups battling it out, dancing, the reason why people live there.. Come on Down.

[SabaiBKK]

Every year there is consideration about restrictions on selling alcohol. Of course a child knows that this doesn't prevent alcohol abuse as the potential boozers can buy alcohol in advance or acquire it different ways.<br><br>A better prevention would be a ban on private traffic during Songkran. Only professional public transport should be allowed on the road. Let every crazy water thrower do their silly thing, but not traffic-wise. In Europe in the seventies there were car-less sundays. Worked amazingly well. Everybody who needed to travel motorized had to apply for a license for that particular day. <br><br>The only thing is here: There has to be police control and this is too much for the poor Thai police who works so hard already...<br>

ban this ban that !!!! tksssss why punish all the people for just a few bad apples. why don't you advocate adressing the problem heads on instead of carpet bombing the place just to kill a fly?

what about the police doing their job and install roadblocks with breathalizers, seizing the cars and imprisonating every drunk driver they encounter ..... it works in UK and France , it should be working here ..... if only we had a real police force dedicated to their jobs, meaning a police force with decent pay.

[Pulle]

Very sad news but some will never learn... it's every year the same....

[Robby nz]

Every year there is consideration about restrictions on selling alcohol. Of course a child knows that this doesn't prevent alcohol abuse as the potential boozers can buy alcohol in advance or acquire it different ways.<br><br>A better prevention would be a ban on private traffic during Songkran. Only professional public transport should be allowed on the road. Let every crazy water thrower do their silly thing, but not traffic-wise. In Europe in the seventies there were car-less sundays. Worked amazingly well. Everybody who needed to travel motorized had to apply for a license for that particular day. <br><br>The only thing is here: There has to be police control and this is too much for the poor Thai police who works so hard already...<br>

ban this ban that !!!! tksssss why punish all the people for just a few bad apples. why don't you advocate adressing the problem heads on instead of carpet bombing the place just to kill a fly?

what about the police doing their job and install roadblocks with breathalizers, seizing the cars and imprisonating every drunk driver they encounter ..... it works in UK and France , it should be working here ..... if only we had a real police force dedicated to their jobs, meaning a police force with decent pay.

Dont know if either of you travelled during Sonkran but I did, on an overnight bus to Surin on the 12th.

Trip took 12hrs, between 4 and 5 hrs longer than normal, mostly at between 10 and 20 kmh because the trafic was so heavy.

There were police everywhere along the road, pretty near at every intersection and at check points about every 20km where there were more police and rescue vehicles.

Didnt envy the cops their job that night and They would have been back the next night.

So before you bash the cops in these circumstances get out there and see what they are doing.

Would be interested to know how the road toll over this period compares to any other of the same length.

You would need to do this to get a true prospective of just how much worse Sonkran is yet I never see it done.

[webfact]

UPDATE

Songkran death toll 229

By Oran Lerdrattanadamrongkul

The Nation

Published on April 18, 2011

Road accidents killed 229 people nationwide, with Nakhon Sawan leading the death tally at 13, over the first six of the "seven dangerous days" of Songkran. Bangkok and Ayutthaya were next the worst with 11 fatalities each, the Road Safety Centre said yesterday.

As of Saturday, 3,172 people had been injured in traffic accidents, with Nakhon Si Thammarat counting the most at 137, ahead of Chiang Rai at 114.

Nakhon Si Thammarat also recorded the most accidents at 129, trailed by Chiang Rai and Nakhon Sawan with 107 each.

On Saturday alone, 41 deaths and 386 injuries in 348 road accidents were reported. Nakhon Sawan was tops in accidents, deaths and injuries at 19, six and 22. Trang was next in accidents and injuries with 15 and 17. Kalasin was second in deaths with four.

As Songkran drew to a close yesterday, major arteries like Mittraphap Road in Nakhon Ratchasima were jammed with thousands of vehicles returning to big cities for the start of work today.

Korat's bus terminal was packed with passengers carrying large bags and parcels while waiting for coaches.

Wanlop Thepphakdi, director of the province's Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Division 5, said drinking and speeding were the most common causes of 171 accidents that left nine people dead and 183 injured during the six dangerous days in four provinces - Nakhon Ratchasima, Chaiyaphum, Buri Ram and Surin.

Chiang Mai Train Station was crowded with tourists heading home. Some of them could not get a ticket at the station, as many seats were already booked. Officials had promised to increase train services for tourists to travel to other provinces.

-- The Nation 2011-04-18

[alexpoker]

I agree that banning alcohol isnt the solution. Either way in Chiang Mai, it wasnt difficult obtaining alcohol, but it wasnt exactly advertised as well as it could be. If suppliers were allowed to advertise more, there prolly woulda been many more drunk people running around. Marketing has an effect.

I think that checkpoints with alcohol tests is prolly the best way to curb the deaths/accidents.

[webfact]

UPDATE:

Songkran death toll 271

By The Nation

Road accidents killed 271 people nationwide during the "seven dangerous days" of Songkran from April 11 to 17, the Road Safety Centre said Monday.

As of Sunday, 3,476 people had been injured in traffic accidents.

Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanavisit, chairman of the centre, said the number of road accidents during the Songkran holidays dropped by 9 per cent from last year from 3,516 to 3,215 accidents.

He said the number of killed victims dropped by 25 per cent from last year or from 361 to 271.

The number of injuries also dropped by 9 per cent or from 3,802 to 3,476 injuries.

-- The Nation 2011-04-18

[webfact]

Deaths from Songkran road accidents drop by 24% from last year

BANGKOK, April 18 - Road accidents during the so-called seven dangerous days of the Songkran Thai New Year's holidays were recorded at 3,215 with 271 fatalities and 3,476 persons injured, according to Interior Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul.

Mr Chavarat, who is also Director of the Road Safety Centre said 42 persons were killed and 304 others were injured and 283 road accidents were reported on the last day of the seven dangerous days on Sunday.

According to the statistics from April 11 to April 17, most deaths at 19 were reported in the central province of Ayutthaya while the most injuries, 144, and most accidents at 135 were recorded in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat.

The cumulative number of road accidents from April 11-17 was 3,215, lower than last year’s figure of 3,516 or 8.56-per cent drop. The total fatalities were 271, falling by 24.93 per cent from the 361 deaths recorded last year.

The total injuries were recorded at 3,476, an 8.57 per cent decline from last year’s figure at 3,802.

According to the statistics, most accidents were caused by drunk driving and the highest risk behavior was that of motorcycle riders not wearing helmets. Motorcycles were the type of vehicles most involved in road accidents and the peak time when most road accidents occurred -- 31.73 per cent of all accidents -- was from 4 to 8pm.

Mr Chavarat said he was satisfied with the road safety campaign this year as the overall figures this year dropped. The road accidents and the injuries dropped by 8-9 per cent and the fatalities fell by 24.9 per cent, compared to the statistics last year.

He said next year’s target is to reduce the deaths from road accidents by at least 25 per cent and injuries and road accidents by 15 per cent. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2011-04-18

[phosphorescent]

Some people must have been resurrected!

[Loz]

where can I get the fatality and accident statistics for the previous six days, and the six days before that?

Without thorough comparison these figures are meaningless. Don't be sucked in to the hype without checking the relativity.

Edited April 18, 2011 by Loz

[jimbeam1]

where can I get the fatality and accident statistics for the previous six days, and the six days before that?

Without thorough comparison these figures are meaningless. Don't be sucked in to the hype without checking the relativity.

Spot on. The figures they are quoting mean nothing, if they can not be compared, with other normal days?

jb1

[Tanaka]

Every year there is consideration about restrictions on selling alcohol. Of course a child knows that this doesn't prevent alcohol abuse as the potential boozers can buy alcohol in advance or acquire it different ways.<br><br>A better prevention would be a ban on private traffic during Songkran. Only professional public transport should be allowed on the road. Let every crazy water thrower do their silly thing, but not traffic-wise. In Europe in the seventies there were car-less sundays. Worked amazingly well. Everybody who needed to travel motorized had to apply for a license for that particular day. <br><br>The only thing is here: There has to be police control and this is too much for the poor Thai police who works so hard already...<br>

ban this ban that !!!! tksssss why punish all the people for just a few bad apples. why don't you advocate adressing the problem heads on instead of carpet bombing the place just to kill a fly?

what about the police doing their job and install roadblocks with breathalizers, seizing the cars and imprisonating every drunk driver they encounter ..... it works in UK and France , it should be working here ..... if only we had a real police force dedicated to their jobs, meaning a police force with decent pay.

You are right, basically. But most policemen have a decent income here. Only not from the government.

[isanbirder]

where can I get the fatality and accident statistics for the previous six days, and the six days before that?

Without thorough comparison these figures are meaningless. Don't be sucked in to the hype without checking the relativity.

Spot on. The figures they are quoting mean nothing, if they can not be compared, with other normal days?

jb1

The total number of road fatalities per year is somewhere between 13,000 (figure for 2003) and 20,000 (to include those who were removed from the scene and died later). I googled around a bit, and had difficulty coming up with better figures than that. Anyway, that rounds off as 40-50 deaths per day. Multiply by 7 for the seven dangerous days, and that comes to 280-350. So actually this Songkran wasn't too bad!

[upena]

271 or 299 - both are most likely way under-reported. No way that there was a 25% decrease considering nothing has changed.

[Prasannas]

Oh.. Sad news

[moo9]

"we've still got two more days of madness in pattaya"

That is only an opinion of course, I do dare say that this so called madness was already there before you chose to live there, so that makes you the mad one if complaining about it

Note, 19th April Pattaya will be awesome with some 20km of fun, thousands of pickups battling it out, dancing, the reason why people live there.. Come on Down.

Lol people live here for Songkran? You are a joker! Most of us iwill be happy that we will a regular life again soon.

It was fun to join the first and second time in life, but now it is a total annoyance. 2 or 3 days would be ok, but it is now almost a week.

[Macmundi]

Population is too high, they should have more Songkrans...!!!

[ratcliffe]

Does anyone know the stats for CM? How many deaths accidents here??

[wheels758]

Every year there is consideration about restrictions on selling alcohol. Of course a child knows that this doesn't prevent alcohol abuse as the potential boozers can buy alcohol in advance or acquire it different ways.<br><br>A better prevention would be a ban on private traffic during Songkran. Only professional public transport should be allowed on the road. Let every crazy water thrower do their silly thing, but not traffic-wise. In Europe in the seventies there were car-less sundays. Worked amazingly well. Everybody who needed to travel motorized had to apply for a license for that particular day. <br><br>The only thing is here: There has to be police control and this is too much for the poor Thai police who works so hard already...<br>

ban this ban that !!!! tksssss why punish all the people for just a few bad apples. why don't you advocate adressing the problem heads on instead of carpet bombing the place just to kill a fly?

what about the police doing their job and install roadblocks with breathalizers, seizing the cars and imprisonating every drunk driver they encounter ..... it works in UK and France , it should be working here ..... if only we had a real police force dedicated to their jobs, meaning a police force with decent pay.

Dont know if either of you travelled during Sonkran but I did, on an overnight bus to Surin on the 12th.

Trip took 12hrs, between 4 and 5 hrs longer than normal, mostly at between 10 and 20 kmh because the trafic was so heavy.

There were police everywhere along the road, pretty near at every intersection and at check points about every 20km where there were more police and rescue vehicles.

Didnt envy the cops their job that night and They would have been back the next night.

So before you bash the cops in these circumstances get out there and see what they are doing.

Would be interested to know how the road toll over this period compares to any other of the same length.

You would need to do this to get a true prospective of just how much worse Sonkran is yet I never see it done.

Don't know where you were going from, but I drove from Pattaya to Sisaket on the night between 11th and 12th and traffic was about the same as daytime but almost all traffic was going east

There were NO bib on road 331, a few checkpoints on road 304. One or two on the whole stretch on road 24. I am not talking about all the normal check points where there is no bib anyway

Took me 7 and a half hour from door to door with one stop for about twenty minutes. And no, I wasnt stopped once by the bib. A little longer than normal

[SantiSuk]

where can I get the fatality and accident statistics for the previous six days, and the six days before that?

Without thorough comparison these figures are meaningless. Don't be sucked in to the hype without checking the relativity.

Spot on. The figures they are quoting mean nothing, if they can not be compared, with other normal days?

jb1

299 deaths in 6 days is an annual running rate of 18,000. I thought that to be about the actual annual death rate on Thai roads.

So - is Songkran really that much more dangerous than any other typical day of the year?

Maybe it would be a lot higher though if there was not the incredible police focus on controlling drunk driving over the holiday period [ho ho]

[jhwest]

where can I get the fatality and accident statistics for the previous six days, and the six days before that?

Without thorough comparison these figures are meaningless. Don't be sucked in to the hype without checking the relativity.

Spot on. The figures they are quoting mean nothing, if they can not be compared, with other normal days?

jb1

299 deaths in 6 days is an annual running rate of 18,000. I thought that to be about the actual annual death rate on Thai roads.

So - is Songkran really that much more dangerous than any other typical day of the year?

Maybe it would be a lot higher though if there was not the incredible police focus on controlling drunk driving over the holiday period [ho ho]

[jhwest]

where can I get the fatality and accident statistics for the previous six days, and the six days before that?

Without thorough comparison these figures are meaningless. Don't be sucked in to the hype without checking the relativity.

Spot on. The figures they are quoting mean nothing, if they can not be compared, with other normal days?

jb1

299 deaths in 6 days is an annual running rate of 18,000. I thought that to be about the actual annual death rate on Thai roads.

So - is Songkran really that much more dangerous than any other typical day of the year?

Maybe it would be a lot higher though if there was not the incredible police focus on controlling drunk driving over the holiday period [ho ho]

[jhwest]

where can I get the fatality and accident statistics for the previous six days, and the six days before that?

Without thorough comparison these figures are meaningless. Don't be sucked in to the hype without checking the relativity.

Spot on. The figures they are quoting mean nothing, if they can not be compared, with other normal days?

jb1

299 deaths in 6 days is an annual running rate of 18,000. I thought that to be about the actual annual death rate on Thai roads.

So - is Songkran really that much more dangerous than any other typical day of the year?

Think I made exactly the same point and yes you are correct in that it is just as dangerous at any day of the year and these ridiculous speeding and too close to the car in front.

Yeah I know people who have children in their car and boast how fast they are going 1401 plus, but their Thai wives do not have a go at them in the same way they belitle Farlang.

The standard and frankly pure bad manners of many is a disgrace and not only in Thailand, but these people are actually laughing!!!

Maybe it would be a lot higher though if there was not the incredible police focus on controlling drunk driving over the holiday period [ho ho]