"drunk driving"

A total of 2,844 people were caught drunk driving in the first full week last week since the country eased virus curbs to gradually return to normalcy under its "living with COVID-19" scheme, police said Monday.

Technology that could reduce drunken driving has evolved faster than the willingness among political and auto industry leaders to put it to use, safety advocates say. But that could be changing.

Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin said on Monday (December 30) that his ministry had joined with other government agencies including the Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) in conducting random checks on 1,545 drivers of the coaches and vans transporting holidaymakers over the New Year festival, and found 5 of them had used narcotics.

Wealthy Thai businessman Somchai Verojpipat, the Mercedes Benz owner who crashed into the car carrying the Crimes Suppression Division’s deputy police commander in April while drunk, killing the policeman and his wife and seriously injuring the couple’s younger daughter, has been sentenced to three years imprisonment and fined Bt100,000 with the court suspending the jail term.

Songkran’s “Seven Dangerous Days” saw the number of drunk driving soar to 12,192, with Bangkok having the highest number of inebriated drivers at 727, Probation Department chief Prasarn Mahaleetrakul said on Thursday.

A monk was arrested for alleged drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident in Nan's Muang district on Wednesday night.

The number of road fatalities is lower so far during this year’s New Year holidays, but drunk driving and speeding remain the key contributing factors in crashes, accounting for most of the arrests made, Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda told reporters at Government House on Wednesday.

The 2,761 road accidents nationwide over the first five days of the New Year holidays have claimed 314 lives and maimed 2,848 others, Public Health Ministry deputy permanent secretary Dr Prapon Tangsrikertikul said on Tuesday.

Authorities temporarily seized 752 vehicles from intoxicated drivers on the first two days of the “Seven Dangerous Days” of the New Year holidays.

A policeman was hit and injured by a drunk-driving Air Force officer at a road checkpoint in Bangkok's Lak Si district early on Monday.

A TOTAL of 378 lives were lost and 3,575 people were injured in road crashes during the first six days (April 11 to 16) of the Songkran holiday period’s seven-day monitoring period.

Police to look for more safety measures; may seek higher budget