Songkran death toll rises to 397
Three traffic lanes of a main road in Buri Ram's Nang Rong district are clogged with vehicles as Songkran revellers return to Bangkok on Sunday, the last day of the Songkran holiday. (Photo by Surachai Piragsa)
The first six days of the “seven dangerous days’’ of Songkran saw 397 people lose their lives in road crashes across the country, a 29.74% jump from last year, with drink-driving remaining the major cause of accidents.
A total of 3,104 road accidents have occurred nationwide from April 11-16, with 3,271 people suffering injuries, said Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith during a press briefing on road safety measures.
The number of accumulated road crashes, deaths and injuries this year was higher than last year. Statistics showed there were a total of 2,915 road accidents, 306 deaths and 3,070 injuries during the same period.
On Saturday alone, there were a total of 380 road accidents which claimed 59 lives and 380 injuries.
Speeding was blamed for the major cause of Saturday’s crashes at 31.05%, followed by drink-driving at 28.16%. Most accidents involved motorcycles at 80.88%, followed by pick-up trucks at 10.08%, said Mr Akhom, citing a report by the road safety centre of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.
Road accidents often occurred on main roads at 69.21% and peak time for crashes was between 4.01pm to 8pm at 26.58%.
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