Road deaths down over first two days

The road accident casualties reached 71 deaths and 826 injuries in the first two days of the "seven dangerous days" of the New Year holiday period - lower than last year's records, the Road Safety Directing Centre said yesterday.

Probation Department chief Ruenwadee Suwanmongkol said that, on December 28 alone, there were 495 accidents killing 38 people and wounding 504 others. She said Lampang province had the highest number of accidents (24) and injured (24 people), while Khon Kaen and Chon Buri had the most deaths at three each.

More than 66,400 officials manned 2,342 main checkpoints, arresting 95,402 law-violating motorists - mostly for failing to present a driver's licence and failing to wear a helmet while riding motorcycles, she said.

For the first two days of the "Seven Dangerous Days" (December 27-28), Ruenwadee said there were 809 accidents, down from 955 last year, with the cumulative death toll at 71 (lower than last year's 94 deaths) and the cumulative injuries at 826 (down from at 1,051 cases last year).

The most deaths - four each - were reported in Chiang Mai, Chon Buri and Bangkok, while Chiang Mai also had the most cumulative accidents at 39 cases and the most injuries at 37 persons.

Only five provinces - Trat, Nakhon Nayok, Yasothon, Sri Sa Ket and Nong Khai - did not report any road accident.

The biggest cause of accidents at 33 per cent was drunk driving, followed by speeding at 20.5 per cent. Motorcycles were most involved in accidents at 83 per cent. The period when accidents occurred most frequently from 4pm to 8pm, followed by 8pm until midnight. More than half of the deaths - 56 per cent - were adults of working age, followed by teenagers under 20 years old at 23 per cent, while 8 per cent of deaths were children under 15.

Meanwhile, holidaymakers continued to travel upcountry and Nakhon Ratchasima, the gateway to the Northeast, saw heavy traffic on Mitraphab Highway. Travelling the 256 kilometres from Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima took at least six hours, instead of the usual three hours 30 minutes.

Transport Co Ltd said 14,448 passengers took 751 "air-con" bus trips from Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima on Friday alone.

In Sa Kaew's Ta Phraya district, a traffic jam was so bad in Chong Tako area that cars were bumper to bumper for 10 kilometres at 3am yesterday, prompting officials to open a shortcut to Chong Ta Kiew Road, which ran along the border and was 20 kilometres longer to reach Buri Ram.

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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2012/12/30/road-deaths-down-over-first-two-days/