340 Dead, 3,092 Injured in Six days of Thailand’s New Year’s Festive Season

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CHIANG RAI – The latest statistics from the Road Accidents Prevention Center during the first six days of the New Year’s festive season starting from December 25, show 340 people were killed and 3,092 others injured in road accidents throughout the country.

The number of traffic deaths rose 11.4% from the first four days of the holiday period a year ago. In the “seven dangerous days” of the festive season last year, road fatalities totaled 341, a decline of 7% from the same period a year earlier.

Of the 3,092 road accidents occurred during the six-day period, Chiang Mai tops the chart with the highest number of accidents at 125 and the highest number of injuries at 125 between Dec 29 and Jan 1,2016 while , Chiang Rai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Songkhla, and Pathum Thani reported the most fatalities of 9 each, the Road Safety Directing Center reported.

Drink-driving was still the major cause of road accidents, at 33%, followed by speeding (16%). Motorcycles were the vehicles involved in the most accidents, at 82%.

The most dangerous time of day during the four days was midnight to 4am (31%), the data showed.

More than half (56%) of the deaths and injuries involved people of working age, led by those under 20 (24%).

17 % of the road accidents were blamed on reckless driving and 83.36 % of the accidents involved motorcycles. Pick-up trucks were involved in 7 % of road accidents.

34.99 %t of the accidents occurred on highways and 35.05 % took place on secondary roads in villages and in areas under the jurisdiction of tambon administration organizations.