Thailand: 43 killed in road accidents on first day of New Year holiday

Up to 43 people were killed and 466 others injured in road accidents in Thailand on December 27, the first day of the country’s seven-day New Year holiday.

The Thai Department for Prevention and Mitigation of Public Disasters (DDPM) said on December 28 that drink driving was the major cause, accounting for 30.39 percent of the crashes, followed by speeding at 24.78 percent.

A total of 80.08 percent of the accidents involved motorcycles, 39.22 percent occurred on highways and 30.6 percent occurred on secondary roads.

According to the department, 29.27 percent of the casualties were people over the age of 50.

A total of 158,453 people were charged for traffic violations, including 42,912 cases of riding without crash helmets and 39,584 cases for carrying no driving licences.

The Thai Interior Ministry launched a road-safety campaign called “Seven Dangerous Days” from December 27 to January 2, aiming to reduce road accidents during the New Year holiday.

During last year’s “Seven Dangerous Days,” 463 people died on Thailand’s roads, with the highest fatalities recorded in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima.  

According to World Health Organization (WHO), Thailand has the highest road fatality rate in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the ninth in the world, losing 32.7 people per 100,000 population, compared to 18.2 globally and 17.8 regionally.

Traffic accidents kill more than 21,000 people in Thailand each year - an average of 60 per day, make over 6,000 people face permanent disabilities, and cause huge economic losses. 

Thailand is one of the 140 signatories of the UN-sponsored Moscow Declaration, which committed to cutting traffic accident death rate to under 10 per 100,000 people by 2020./. 

VNA