Things we learned from Songkran accident statistics
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Thanks to a foreign friend, the newly-released figures related to the traditional road carnage of Songkran seem to offer some added perspectives. The numbers show both what we expected - i.e., the high risks of riding a motorcycle during the water festiva
Here is what we learn from the April 11-17 statistics, which have been announced by the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department:
1. 321 people were killed, almost the exact same number as last year, when 320 people died. Despite all the campaigns, all the warnings and all the measures, this year’s death toll is stubbornly unchanged. And the toll looks more puzzling, if not scarier, when we check Number 2.
2. The overall number of accidents, 2,828, is actually 9.6 per cent lower than last year. That’s a considerable drop. So, we have had significantly fewer accidents but more deaths. If this is a surprise, read numbers 3 and 4.
3. The main cause of accidents this year remains alcohol consumption. But wait. The authorities’ figures show 39.1 per cent of accidents involved alcohol. Admittedly, it’s a big percentage, but what about the other 60 per cent of the 2,828 accidents that were not alcohol-related?
4. The second-biggest cause of accidents is speeding drivers, causing 23.5 per cent of the 2,828 accidents. Are these figures telling us you don’t have to race during Songkran to die or be injured?
5. In other words, are the numbers showing that you don’t have to be drunk or drive like crazy in order to be involved in a road accident during Songkran?
6. We don’t have the details of how the figures were processed. We don’t know how much was overlapped or separated between drunk driving and speeding. Could it be that the high number of drunk-driving cases primarily involved people too-drunk-to-race but who got killed anyway, and that most speeders were not drunk? If that’s the case, we can say, with a better degree of comfort, that alcohol and speeding combined to cause 62.6 per cent of the 2,828 accidents.
7. But even so, the fact that nearly 40 per cent of this year’s accidents involved neither alcohol or speeding remains unsettling. The next thing we learn, though, may offer some explanation.
8. More than 222,000 motorists were charged with driving without a license during Songkran. Some may have “forgotten” their licenses at home, but there must have been a fair number of amateur drivers or riders out there who didn’t need to be drunk or speeding to be involved in accidents.
9. Motorcyclists are the main victims and/or villains; 78 per cent of accidents involved motorcycles. (Remember, some of the riders may have been drunk while the others were dare-devils or amateurish or both.) And Number 10 shows how the most important safety rule was discarded with wild abandon across the country.
10. A total of 232,600 motorcyclists were charged with failing to wear a helmet. If each of them was fined just Bt100, the money collected could be used as overtime payment for overworked traffic policemen during Songkran, making them more eager to go after the “easy riders”. (Nearly 70,000 officials were manning checkpoints throughout Thailand.)
11. A total of 21 per cent of deaths and injuries were attributed to motorcycle users not wearing helmets. (The overall number of injuries this Songkran is 3,040.) This means a more drastic campaign – like extremely heavy fines or impounding of motorcycles – could considerably reduce deaths and injuries.
12. The same can be suggested for people caught violating the alcohol ban. Punishment must be tough enough, not only for violators – to get it into their heads so they won’t do it again – but for others, to dread getting caught for such violations in future Songkrans.
13. Most of the deaths occurred on April 12 (62), and most injuries on April 13 (688). Last year April 14 claimed the most lives (66) and April 13 saw the most injuries (778). So, the Songkran blood curse seems to be strongest in the first three days of the festival.
14. April 13 registered the biggest numbers of accidents both this year (655) and last (730).
15. While revellers seem to race to celebrate, they seem to take it a little easier going back to where they came from. April 16 and 17 show Songkran’s bloodlust at its weakest both this year and last, with the lowest numbers of accidents, deaths and injuries.
16. To sum up, next year’s campaign must seriously focus on the first three days, when drunk drivers/riders must be put in jail; drivers/riders without licenses, as well as speed-limit violators must have their vehicles impounded; and motorcycle riders caught not wearing helmets must be made to walk home.
