Drunk-driving arrests mount, ankle bracelets keep some at home
With Chiang Rai, Maha Sarakham and Surin topping the list of provinces for drunk drivers caught in the first five days of Songkran (April 11-15), thousands of offenders were immediately slapped with probation and dozens had monitoring devices attached to their ankles to keep them off the roads.
Probation Department director-general Prasarn Mahaleetrakul said on Monday that the five days saw 3,460 motorists arrested and placed on probation across the country.
Four of those cases involved reckless driving, the rest drunk driving.
In all, there were 6,707 arrests, of which 97.5 per cent were for drunk driving. The remainder were for reckless driving (21 cases), street racing (two) and driving under the influence of narcotics (143), Prasarn said.
Chiang Rai clocked up the most drunk-driving cases with 455, followed by Maha Sarakham at 394 and Surin at 313.
Since April 13, the department had attached electronic monitoring (EM) devices to the ankles of 37 drunk drivers placed on probation, in accordance with court-mandated conditions.
The devices prevent them from leaving their homes between 10pm and 4am for 15 days.
Given one year’s probation, they must report four times to probation officials and do 24 hours of community service.