New Year period road toll reaches 93 after two days

The death toll from road accidents during the first two days of the 10-day monitoring period for the New Year holidays was 93, the Road Safety Centre announced on Sunday.

Chakree Bamrungwong, inspector general of the Interior Ministry, told a press conference that the first two days of the 10-day monitoring period for road accidents from December 27 to January 5 saw 592 accidents, killing 93 people and injuring 575 others.

Chakree said Ayutthaya province had the highest accumulated number of road accidents at 27 after two days, followed by Krabi and Prachuap Khiri Khan each with 10 accidents and Phuket with 19.

Nakhon Si Thammarat had the highest accumulated number of deaths at five, followed by Bangkok, Chaiyaphum, Nakhon Ratchasima and Phang Nga with four deaths each and Chachoengsao, Nakhon Pathom, Pathum Thani, Ayutthaya, Lampang, Songkhla, Nong Bua Lampu, and Udon Thani each with three deaths.

Ayutthaya had the most accumulated injuries at 24, followed by Krabi (21) and Prachuap Khiri Khan (20).

On the second day alone (Saturday), there were 269 road accidents, which was down 31.2% from the second day of the new Year monitoring period last year.

A total of 38 people were killed on the second day, an increase of 11.63%, and 257 people were injured, down 36.54%.

Chakree said Ayutthaya and Chiang Rai had the highest number of accidents on Saturday with 13 each, followed by Krabi (11 accidents) and Prachuap Khiri Khan (10 accidents).

Phang Nga and Nong Bua Lampu had the highest death toll at three on Saturday, followed by Chachoengsao, Chaiyaphum, Nakhon Ratchasima, Pathum Thani, Ayutthaya, Si Sa Ket, Saraburi and Phetchaburi at two each.

Chiang Rai had the highest number of injuries at 13 on Saturday, followed by Krabi (12) and Ayutthaya (11).

Most (38.29%) of the accidents were blamed on violation of the speed limit, and most accidents involved motorcycles (85.4%).

Meanwhile, the Central Investigation Bureau announced on Sunday that its Highway Police Division made a large number of arrests of motorists and motorcyclists for violating traffic laws on highways nationwide during the first two days of the 10-day monitoring period.

It said 249 motorists and motorcyclists were arrested for drunk driving and 11,743 for violating speed limits.

It said 3,982 other motorists and motorcyclists were arrested for violating traffic lights, 95 for driving without licences, 44 for driving against traffic flow and 77 for not using safety belts.

The CIB said that on Saturday alone, 700,126 vehicles headed out of Bangkok, and that was the day with the heaviest traffic so far during the monitoring period.