Police on alert on Day 6 on New Year break

The centre also said that the first five days of the New Year Festival had claimed 282 lives and injured 2,783 others in 2,544 road accidents nationwide, with Buri Ram having the most deaths at 16 cases while Chaiyaphum was the only province with no accidents.

Compared to the same period last year, the cumulative 282 deaths increased by one person, the cumulative 2,783 injuries was lower by 308 injuries and the cumulative 2,544 accidents was also lower with 337 fewer incidents, said Deputy Permanent Secretary for Transport Silapachai Jarukasemrattana. Chiang Rai had the most cumulative accidents at 95 cases while Nakhon Sawan had the most cumulative injuries at 100 cases.

On January 2 alone, 41 people were killed (six fewer than last year) and 401 were wounded (34 less than last year) in 377 road accidents (31 fewer than last year). Most were the result of drunk driving (32.89) per cent and speeding (20.69 per cent), Silapachai said. The majority of the accidents involved motorcycles (82.99 per cent) and over half (50.23 per cent) the victims were of working age, he said. A total of 69,673 officials manning 2,468 checkpoints had stopped 724,752 vehicles and arrested 95,822 law-breaking motorists – most of them for failing to wear helmets (30,326 cases) or for failing to present a driver’s license (27,764 cases), he added.