Thailand’s New Year Road Deaths Top 334

According to the Public Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department, a total of 334 people died in the first six days of the safe driving campaign from December 27 to January 1.

There were altogether 2,891 cases of road accidents during the period with 3,041 people injured.

For January 1, there were 536 cases of road accidents with 539 injured and 68 dead in a single day.

It blamed drunk driving as the major cause of most road accidents or 51.49%, followed by speeding 24.44%.

Motorcycle remains the vehicle which engaged in most accidents of up to 81.62%, followed by pickup trucks 8.11%.

Chiang Mai recorded the highest road accidents with a total of 27 cases while Udon Thani recording highest death toll of seven people.

It said that most accidents happened between midnight to 04.00 a.m. or 25.19% and most fatalities are in the labor group or up to 60.79%, while 19.93% are teenagers and youths.

It also said that during the safety driving campaign period, highway and traffic flagged down 699,447 vehicles for checks. A total of   101,618  vehicles were fined when drivers  have no driving licenses  and did not wear crash helmets.