Songkran road death toll hits 95 after three days

Thailand’s Songkran road death toll rose to 95 over the first three days of the holiday road safety campaign, with 515 accidents and 486 injuries recorded nationwide from April 10 to April 12.

Bangkok recorded the highest cumulative fatalities with six deaths, while Lampang posted the highest accumulated number of accidents and injuries, at 25 each. Thirty provinces reported zero deaths.

Bangkok records highest cumulative fatalities

The latest figures, released on Monday (April 13), showed that risk remained high even before the main Songkran Day crowds fully spilled onto the roads. Authorities said the pattern of crashes continued to point to dangerous behaviour, with speeding and drink-driving among the leading causes.

Third-day figures show persistent risk patterns

On the third day alone, April 12, the Road Safety Operation Center reported:

• 171 accidents, 169 injuries and 24 deaths.
• Speeding accounted for 46.20 per cent of accidents, followed by drink-driving at 24.56 per cent.
• Motorcycles were involved in 77.17 per cent of crashes.
• Most accidents occurred on straight roads, at 81.29 per cent; 39.77 per cent were on subdistrict or village roads, and 34.50 per cent on Department of Highways roads.
• The peak accident window was 3.01pm to 6pm, accounting for 24.56 per cent, while the worst-hit age group was 20-29, at 22.80 per cent.
• Suphan Buri recorded the highest number of accidents with 10, Phrae had the highest number of injured with nine, and Bangkok recorded the highest number of deaths with three.

The RSOC said provinces and Bangkok had been told to strictly enforce laws covering the 10 main traffic offences, especially in Songkran water-play zones and tourist areas.

Measures against drink-driving were also stepped up, including tighter control of alcohol sales, a total ban on selling alcohol to anyone under 20, and tougher scrutiny where underage drink-driving leads to injury or death. In such cases, authorities were instructed to expand investigations to shops, people who enabled underage drinking, and parents or guardians under relevant laws.

Community and family checkpoints are also being intensified to monitor, warn and deter risky motorists before crashes occur.

Saharat urges caution, tougher anti-drink-driving checks

Saharat Wongsakulwiwat, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and secretary to the RSOC committee, said the first three days of data showed that most accidents stemmed from risky behaviour by both drivers and other road users.

He urged provinces to remind motorists to assess whether they were physically fit to drive and to stop and rest, or avoid driving altogether, if they were not.

He also called for greater caution during Songkran celebrations, warning people not to splash water directly at motorcycles because riders could lose control, not to play water in the middle of roads because of the risk of being hit by vehicles, and, where possible, to avoid sitting or standing in the back of pickup trucks during moving water-play runs because of the danger of falling.

Authorities were also told to keep communication and emergency-response systems ready so ambulances and rescue teams could reach accident scenes and transfer victims to hospital as quickly as possible.