Songkran’s ‘Seven Dangerous Days’ ends with far fewer accidents this year
A total of 1,917 road accidents were reported and 278 people were killed during the “Seven Dangerous Days” of the Songkran Festival when thousands of people travelled from their places of work to their home provinces.
Road Safety Thailand told the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department that 1,869 people were injured in the 1,917 road accidents from April 11 to 17.
The data was revealed by Nirat Pongsitthaworn, deputy permanent secretary for the Interior Ministry who is in charge of Road Safety Thailand, at a press conference on Monday.
Nirat said 188 road accidents had happened on Sunday, the last day of the so-called “Seven Dangerous Days”.
He said 171 people were injured and 32 people killed in Sunday’s accidents.
Nirat said violation of speed limit was the biggest cause of the accidents (40.69 per cent), followed by drunk driving (21.81 per cent).
Chiang Rai province reported the most number of accidents at 66, followed by Chiang Mai with 63.
He said Bangkok had the highest number of deaths at 13, while six provinces — Nakhon Phanom, Pattani, Yala, Ranong, Samut Sakhon and Singburi — reported no fatalities.
More than 82 per cent of the accidents involved motorcycles, followed by pickups (7.37 per cent) and cars (4.74 per cent).
Speaking at the same press conference, Boontham Lertsukhee, director-general of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department and secretary of Road Safety Thailand, said the number of road accidents during the Songkran monitoring period was lower than last year but the death toll was slightly higher.
Last year, the monitoring period from April 10 to 16 saw 2,365 road accidents and 277 deaths, while 2,357 people were injured.
Meanwhile, Deputy Transport Minister Athirat Rattanaseth said on Monday that no boat accidents were reported during the monitoring period from April 11 to 17.
During the period, the Chao Phraya Express Boat service provided 302 shuttle boat services to 20,735 passengers, and Chao Phraya ferry boats made 5,617 shuttle trips, carrying 85,906 passengers.
Athirat added that the shuttle boats on Saen Saeb Canal, which stopped services from April 13 to 17, carried 18,847 passengers on April 11 and 12.
In the provinces, boat services made 21,397 trips, carrying 1,036,389 passengers during the period with no accidents, the deputy transport minister added.
