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Thailand Reports Total of 936 Road Accidents, with 968 Injuries and 116 Deaths During Songkran
(CTN News) – As a result of the ‘Seven Days Road Safety Campaign’ during Songkran (April 11th – April 17th) 2024, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) reported 936 road accidents on Sunday (April 14th) on three days (April 11th – April 13th). There were 968 injuries and 116 fatalities reported during these three days.
With a total of eight fatalities, Bangkok was the province with the highest number of fatalities.
There were 39 accidents in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Songkhla, with 45 injuries in Songkhla and 39 in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
A total of 48 deaths, 392 road accidents, and 411 injuries were reported in total on the third day (April 13th) of the campaign.
Many accidents involved motorcycles (40 percent) due to excessive speeding. Most accidents happened on highways (35 percent) between 6:01 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
As of Saturday (April 13th), the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) reported 541 road accidents, 550 of which resulted in injuries and 63 deaths during the ‘Seven Days Road Safety Campaign’ during Songkran 2024, during which the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) conducted the event over two days (April 11th – April 12th).
Songkran Scam Warning
In a report from the Bangkok Post, the Royal Thai Police warned the public to watch out for internet scammers during Songkran 2024 after about 5,300 fraud cases were recorded last week. There were many complaints about internet shopping and bank transfers.
As of Tuesday, Pol Lt Gen Sompong Chingduang, special adviser to the Royal Thai Police, said the victims’ claims totaled 312.5 million baht.
The 5,269 reported incidents totaled 34 million baht in losses from online shopping scams and 61.1 million baht from job posting scams.
A total of 539 cases were loan scams costing 22.7 million baht, 286 were internet investment scams costing 72.7 million baht, and 276 were call-center scams costing 47.9 million baht.
According to Pol Lt Gen Sompong, the number of online shopping scams related to the Songkran Festival has been going up. Victims get scammed when they pay for items related to the Songkran Festival but don’t get them.
Another type of fraud is a Ponzi scheme. Scammers use famous people’s profile images on fake social media accounts to build credibility and convince victims to invest.
“We’d like to warn you not to invest with unverified parties or buy from unverified sellers,” he said.
Key interesting statistics from the ministry’s Data Catalogue include:
Types of vehicles in accidents:
– Pickups (37%)
– Private and public vehicles (27%)
– Motorcycles (20%)
– Trucks with at least 10 wheels (8%)
– Six-wheel trucks (6%)
– Vans (2%)
Types of roads where most accidents happened:
– Straight-ahead roads without slope (70%)
– Curves without slope (13%)
– Curves with slope (8%)
– Bridges to commercial venues (3%)
– Intersections (1%)
Types of accidents:
– Overturning on or skidding off straight-ahead roads (43%)
– Rear crash (31%)
– Overturning or skidding off curved roads (13%)
– Head-on crashes (5%)
– Crashing into traffic barriers (4%)
– Crashing at intersections (2%)
– Hitting pedestrians (2%)
Causes of accidents:
– Violation of speed limit (78%)
– Being cut in front by pedestrians, vehicles or animals (8%)
– Falling asleep behind wheel (4%)
– Drunk driving (3%)
– Violations of traffic lights or signs or vehicles malfunctioning (2%)
– Unlawfully overtaking other vehicles, not allowing vehicles on main road to pass first, or not familiar with roads (1%).
