Road accident death toll climbs to 71 as Thailand’s New Year exodus continues

BANGKOK, December 29 (TNA) - Road accident death toll has climbed to 71 and 826 people have been injured during the first two days of the so-called “seven dangerous days" of New Year travels, set from December 27, 2012 to January 2, 2013. Ruenwadee Suwanmongkol, Director General of the Probation Department, told reporters of the latest figures on Saturday, saying that the two-day accumulated dealth toll was, however, lower than the 94 fatalities recorded nationwide during the same period last year, and that the second day alone of the “seven dangerous days of the ongoing New Year celebrations saw 38 killed and 504 injured in 495 road accidents. From December 27-28, Ruenwadee revealed, the northern resort Chiang Mai province had recorded the highest cases of road accidents at 39, followed by the western Ratchaburi province, noting that Bangkok and two other provinces, including Chiang Mai in the Thai North and Chonburi in the Thai East recorded the most accumulated New Year fatalities at 4 each so far. According to the senior official, road accidents during the first two-day period were caused mostly by drunk driving at 32.88 per cent, followed by speeding at 20.52 per cent, with most vehicles involved in the accidents, or 83.39 per cent, reported to be motorcycles, followed by pick-up trucks at 7.64 per cent. The senior official acknowledged that more than half of the deaths, or 56.41 per cent, were working-age people, 22.74 percent were children under 20 years old and 15 per cent were children under 15 years old. Meanwhile, roads and public transport terminals across Thailand have been crowded, as people have continued returning to their hometowns for New Year holidays. The Hua Lampong railway terminus in Bangkok, for instance, was teemed with people Friday night, as the current New Year holiday travel season reached its peak. State Railway of Thailand (SRT) Governor Prapat Chongsanguan told journalists that, with less public holidays for this New Year, most people apparently chose to travel back to their hometowns in provincial areas, and that the SRT has added more train trips to serve the increasing number of passengers, assuring that there will be no passengers left stranded during this New Year holidays. For main highways, the Mittraphap, the major highway to Thailand’s northeastern region, for instance, was crowded with vehicles Saturday morning, with heavy traffic jams reported on some sections, prompting more traffic police to have been deployed to help ease congestions on the road. (TNA)