Roi-Et has most fatalities, police say

AS the country continued to celebrate the Songkran Festival, the Road Safety Centre reported yesterday that five days of the holiday monitoring period had seen 2,406 road accidents killing 251 persons and injuring 2,532 others. 

Nakhon Si Thammarat had the most accidents at 94 and the highest number of injuries at 98 people, while Roi-Et had the most fatalities at 11, Colonel Damrong Simakhajornboon, assistant secretary to the minister of education, said.

On Monday, 671 road accidents claimed 60 lives and injured 724 people. Checkpoint officials charged 128,716 motorists, mostly for failing to wear a motorcycle helmet (39,398 cases) and failing to present a driver’s licence (35,112 cases).

Drunk driving and speeding remain the major causes of accidents at 44 and 24 per cent respectively, while motorcycles were involved in about 82 per cent of the accidents. 

More than half (62 per cent) of the accidents occurred on a straight stretch of road and about a third happened between 4pm and 8pm. Half of the victims were of working age. 

Only 10 provinces have reported no road fatalities this Songkran: Trang, Beung Kan, Phichit, Phuket, Mae Hong Son, Yala, Ratchaburi, Loei, Samut Songkhram, and Samut Sakhon. 

Meanwhile Wanlop Suwandee, adviser to the Bangkok governor, announced yesterday that Songkran celebrations in the Silom area would be extended under the watchful eyes of police for one more day until today. The events, featuring an 80-metre water tunnel but no stage performance, will promote the concept of “safe, alcohol-free, no obscenity, and no powder smearing”. 

The “Big Cleaning Day” operation will kick off at midnight tonight, he added.

After the Cabinet provided an eight-point guideline for well-behaved Songkran celebrations, the Northeast province of Buri Ram reported yesterday that police on Monday had arrested three women, aged 18-23, for dancing obscenely in front of the King Rama I monument on Sadet Niwat Road. Police also impounded four trucks for being illegally modified to disturb the public with overly loud noise and apprehended two men in their 20s who allegedly obstructed police. 

While some provinces saw teens acting and dressing inappropriately, other provinces promoted the Thai culture via traditional clothing. 

A Songkran celebration in Phichit’s Muang district adopted the nostalgic theme of the era of the musical film “Monrak Luk Thung”, while another event on Maha Sarakham’s Khao Mao Road featured traditional games like tossing saba seeds and mon son pa (hiding a cloth) as well as ramwong folk dances. 

Another celebration at Hat Chao Phraya in Angthong’s Chaiyo district saw many attendees wearing Thai traditional clothing, eating traditional food and asking for seniors’ blessings. Children also enjoyed games and toys including a 40-metre-long makeshift water slide into the river.

In related news, national police deputy chief Pol General Pongsapat Pongcharoen announced yesterday that the number of homes nation-wide placed under police guardianship during the Songkran holidays had risen to 4,212 – including 1,470 in Bangkok and 2,742 in other provinces.