New Year exodus begins in Thailand
By Digital Content

BANGKOK, Dec 30 -- Vacationers are leaving Bangkok in considerable numbers, by air, trains and buses, for their New Year celebrations.

There has been no report of stranded passengers, a problem which sometimes occurred in the past.

Don Mueang Airport was packed with passengers this morning but the authorities managed the traffic well.

Roads to the Bangkok airport were not congested because most travelers arrived at its passenger terminals by public transport.

Suvarnabhumi Airport director Prapon Pattamakitsakul said more staff, including translators and bomb detection experts were deployed there around the clock, from Dec 25 through Jan 5, to handle more travelers.

During the period, he expected the number of passengers through Suvarnabhumi Airport to rise from 147,000 to 150,000 and the number of flights from 840 to 903 per day.

At Don Mueang Airport, the number of passengers should increase from 75,600 to 79,300 and that of flights from 572 to 580 per day during the same period.

The Hualamphong railway terminus was not congested this morning because many travelers had already departed there late last week.

The terminus is expected to serve 120,000 train passengers today, compared with the normal traffic of 80,000-90,000 a day.

The State Railway of Thailand has deployed more trains and carriages to serve the growing traffic especially on northern and northeastern routes.

Meanwhile, the state-operated Transport Company is running more passenger buses at Bangkok's Mo Chit 2 Terminal to serve all travelers heading for their home provinces. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2014-12-30

This happy family visiting period sadly will bring a few THOUSAND people dying in traffic. The equivalent of quite a few Airasia planes with passengers and crew members going down. Same horrible story each year. I hope the measures announced by the new leadership will change this lethal spiral. But I fear preventing Thais from dying isn't very high on the political agenda.

In most other countries this massive loss of lifes would be the main issue for governments. Overhere it still isn't. Why?

This happy family visiting period sadly will bring a few THOUSAND people dying in traffic. The equivalent of quite a few Airasia planes with passengers and crew members going down. Same horrible story each year. I hope the measures announced by the new leadership will change this lethal spiral. But I fear preventing Thais from dying isn't very high on the political agenda.

In most other countries this massive loss of lifes would be the main issue for governments. Overhere it still isn't. Why?

Year after year it is the same in most countries that have these types of holidays where people get on the road to travel often after drinking. Not something specific to Thailand. However Thailand having so many motorbikes on the road and suffering fomr the effects of a less developed nation going through a very rapid modernization, you certainly can expect a higher percentage of road deaths throughout the year ... then again, even a modern country like the US sees road fatalities increase by 5 Fold over Thanksgiving day as people visit family and drink with family.

This happy family visiting period sadly will bring a few THOUSAND people dying in traffic. The equivalent of quite a few Airasia planes with passengers and crew members going down. Same horrible story each year. I hope the measures announced by the new leadership will change this lethal spiral. But I fear preventing Thais from dying isn't very high on the political agenda.

In most other countries this massive loss of lifes would be the main issue for governments. Overhere it still isn't. Why?

The irony is that the number killed on the roads during the so called dangerous days are actually lower than the yearly daily average!!

Fact!!

This happy family visiting period sadly will bring a few THOUSAND people dying in traffic. The equivalent of quite a few Airasia planes with passengers and crew members going down. Same horrible story each year. I hope the measures announced by the new leadership will change this lethal spiral. But I fear preventing Thais from dying isn't very high on the political agenda.

In most other countries this massive loss of lifes would be the main issue for governments. Overhere it still isn't. Why?

The irony is that the number killed on the roads during the so called dangerous days are actually lower than the yearly daily average!!

Fact!!

No, just the usually BS spewed out by the Thai Government.

Why has it suddenly become popular to say that the "dangerous days" are the same as the rest of the year? Who is paying these people to lie through their teeth?

This happy family visiting period sadly will bring a few THOUSAND people dying in traffic. The equivalent of quite a few Airasia planes with passengers and crew members going down. Same horrible story each year. I hope the measures announced by the new leadership will change this lethal spiral. But I fear preventing Thais from dying isn't very high on the political agenda.

In most other countries this massive loss of lifes would be the main issue for governments. Overhere it still isn't. Why?

The irony is that the number killed on the roads during the so called dangerous days are actually lower than the yearly daily average!!

Fact!!

BS You cant be serious, have a look at the figures for this years Songkran absolute carnage not just deaths crippling life long injuries

This happy family visiting period sadly will bring a few THOUSAND people dying in traffic. The equivalent of quite a few Airasia planes with passengers and crew members going down. Same horrible story each year. I hope the measures announced by the new leadership will change this lethal spiral. But I fear preventing Thais from dying isn't very high on the political agenda.

In most other countries this massive loss of lifes would be the main issue for governments. Overhere it still isn't. Why?

The irony is that the number killed on the roads during the so called dangerous days are actually lower than the yearly daily average!!

Fact!!

No, just the usually BS spewed out by the Thai Government.

The numbers reported do seem to be BS.

Suvarnabhumi Airport - projected increase of 3000 passengers into projected increase of 63 flights equates to about 48 pax per flight.

No wonders airlines are losing money!

Don Mueang Airport - projected increase of 3700 passengers into projected increase of only 8 flights equates to about 463 pax per flight. Great payload, just hope they load enough fuel for the trip.

Anyway hope every one flies safe.