Law must clamp down heavily on drunk driving

Drunk driving has continued to be the main factor in road accidents during the long Songkran holiday period this year. It has accounted for more than 47 per cent of the more than 2,900 accidents that happened during the period of the road-safety campaign for the annual “water festival”, when millions of people all over the country travel and have fun.

Drunk driving accounted for 47.15 per cent of the accidents recorded in the first six days of the seven-day road-safety campaign, from April 9 to 15, according to the Interior Ministry’s Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department. It was followed by speeding, which accounted for 22.40 per cent. Most of the road accidents – about 78 per cent – involved motorcycles and about 30 per cent of the riders involved in those accidents did not wear crash helmets, the agency said yesterday.

Between April 9 and 14, a total of 2,915 road accidents were recorded throughout the country, with 306 people dead and 3,070 others injured, according to the latest update released by the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department yesterday.

Alcoholic drinks have always been a key ingredient in celebrations. It is understandable that revellers often drink a lot during this festival period, and tend to indulge themselves excessively. But the problem is compounded when many of the drunk revellers ride motorcycles or drive cars. These irresponsible drinkers end up causing accidents that often lead to injuries and even deaths. 

Since 2010, drunk driving has surpassed not wearing helmets as the biggest factor in road-accident deaths and injuries during the Songkran Festival, according to a report by the Health Information System Development Office. The report cited data compiled by the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department. This could be because, while wearing of helmets has become compulsory and a practice increasingly adopted by riders, more and more people drink during the long holidays, and many of them end up getting involved in road accidents. 

Many of the road accidents during Songkran, and the other long holiday breaks like New Year, involved drunk driving by motorcycle riders who did not wear crash helmets. One revealing statistic is that a lot of the accidents happened when the drinkers rode their motorbikes to buy more alcoholic drinks at a nearby shop for their parties.

Although the authorities have appeared to be tough with the sale and consumption of alcohol, as well as drunk driving, during this festival time, the results suggest that they have not done enough.

 Police checkpoints have been set up regularly at night to catch drunk drivers, but many of the violators don’t seem to be discouraged by the possibility of getting arrested and punished.

A lot the country’s resources – from the state coffers and personal savings – have been spent on treating people seriously injured or maimed in accidents caused by drunk driving. Public campaigns have continued for years against drunk driving but they seem to have been running out of steam in recent years.

Active public campaigns against drunk driving should be revived and awareness programmes on the perils of drunk driving should start early, targeting schoolchildren so that the lessons are learned early in life. Also, there should be tougher laws and legal actions against drunk drivers so that they get the message that this dangerous behaviour is unacceptable to society as a whole.