First day of ‘seven dangerous days’ sees 29 killed in road accidents

The first day of road accident monitoring during the seven-day New Year holiday period saw 198 crashes, killing 29 people and injuring 190 others, the Road Safety Centre said on Wednesday.

The centre held a press conference at the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) to release figures from the first day of the monitoring campaign on Tuesday, December 30. The briefing was chaired by Pol Gen Samrarn Nualma, deputy national police chief, and attended by DDPM director-general Teerapat Katchamat.

Samrarn said the number of accidents fell by 38.13% from the average recorded during previous long-holiday monitoring periods. He added that injuries and deaths were down by 38.71% and 51.67%, respectively, from the average.

He said Chiang Rai and Phuket recorded the highest number of accidents, with 12 each. Phuket had the highest number of injuries (12), while Bangkok had the highest death toll (three).

Samrarn said speeding was the leading cause of crashes on the first day (83 cases), followed by drink-driving (40) and unsafe lane changes (37).

Authorities also found 122 motorcyclists were not wearing helmets on the first day of monitoring.

Motorcycles accounted for the largest share of vehicles involved in crashes, at 192 (71.79%), followed by pickup trucks (39) and saloon cars (19).

Of the 29 fatalities, 17 died at the scene, 11 died in hospital, and one died en route to hospital, Samrarn said.

The Road Safety Centre monitors crashes during extended holidays such as New Year and Songkran each year, when large numbers of people travel back to their home provinces at the start of the break and return to work or study at the end.