Songkran ... Deaths as usual

[jinks]

The deputy director of the National Road Safety Centre said there were 435 accidents on Wednesday, killing 41 people and wounding 514 others. A third of the accidents were caused by drunk drivers, while speeding and cutting in too closely in front of other vehicles were also factors.

Some 85 per cent of accidents involved motorcycles and most took place on straight secondary roads between 4pm and 8pm.


Full Story from THE NATION (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/04/13/headlines/headlines_30031816.php)

A third of the accidents were caused by drunk drivers,

Way don't they get drunk more ? :drunken: Same me ! :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: I never find my car, not even no what car i have ! :clown:

Police ban water throwing on Sukhumvit during Songkran holiday
Set up roadblocks to test for drunk drivers
Vimolrat Singnikorn - Pattaya Mail

Pattaya police are warning Songkran revelers to stay away from Sukhumvit Road during April 18 and 19, saying that water throwing will not be allowed there, in an attempt to reduce traffic congestion and road accidents.

Police have set up roadblocks throughout the city and will be checking for drunk drivers.

Traffic inspector Pol Maj Pitakpong Krongchon said that each year the traffic along Sukhumvit during Wan Lai becomes chaotic, all the way from Laem Chabang to Jomtien. This year, he said, the traffic police committee has decided there will not be any allowance for water players in trucks to drive on the Sukhumvit highway. People can still enjoy their water splashing in the city areas and sois.

Some roads that are normally two-way will be converted to a one-way traffic flow during this period, such as the Naklua Road and some sois in Banglamung.

PVC water pipes would not be allowed for spraying water this year, as there have been so many cases in past years in which reckless water players have sprayed water into the faces of motorcycle riders, causing accidents.

Somchai Wattana of the Chonburi Public Health Department said that in an effort to reduce the usually high accident toll over the holiday, there is a strategy within the province of imposing speed limits, checking for blood alcohol levels, ensuring seatbelts and safety helmets are worn, and spot-checking for driver licenses.

DELETED

My heart did a leap! Yes thats horrible, but I immediately thought you were talking about a bomb blast, was that intentional?

[TrongpaiExpat]

I am in Chiang Mai now and drinking and driving here seem to be literally drinking and driving at the same time. Young people,well under 18, on motorbikes with a bottle in one hand and it's not water. They drive right by the police who do not take notice.

[catawampuscat]

I have heard Chiang Mai is as wild as Pattaya during Songkran, maybe even crazier.

I hope you have the time and the interest to check out the boy bars in Chiang Mai and favour us
with a report. Sawatdee Wan Pei Mai Krup :cheers: :cat:

[TrongpaiExpat]

Sorry, Cat, no plans to go to any boy bars here in Chiang Mai. If I wanted to go, I would have to walk, the traffic is very heavy. The only bar I ever liked was Adam's Apple and now that's gone.

There are lots of cute gay wet boys on the streets.

If you don't like Songkran, don't come to Chiang Mai this time of year. There must have been a special on fire hoses.

SONGKRAN ROAD TOLL - The Nation
Casualties down on last year
Drink-driving chiefly blamed again;victims' kin urged to take payments

"As Songkran festivities continue, the number of road-accident victims stands at 169 dead and 2,296 injured in the first three days of the holiday, the Road Safety Centre said yesterday. The road toll to date is down on that of 2006, Public Health Deputy Minister Dr Morakot Kornkasem said. Once again, drinking drivers are causing most accidents, he said.

Insurance Department director-general Chantra Buranarerk encouraged families of accident victims to seek initial payments from the victims' compensation fund. The fund pays actual expenses for injuries to a maximum of Bt15,000. Relatives of those killed in motor accidents receive Bt35,000. Compensation for victims hospitalised but later dying of injuries is a maximum of Bt50,000.
She said once victims' relatives completed documentation they would receive payment within half an hour. More information is available on the department's 1186 hotline. The fund was set up by the Road Accident Victims Protection Act of 1997 and is paid for with third-party insurance premiums. All accident victims receive compensation.

The volume of prank and hoax calls to the ministry's emergency Narenthorn Centre is on the rise. Morakot said that since the festival started on Wednesday 2,153 prank calls had been fielded. Almost 900 bogus calls were made on Friday alone. Most come from public telephone booths, he said. "This shows people do not realise the importance of the emergency call centre. It is there to save the lives of the critically injured. These calls prevent medical teams reaching real victims on time because those in need cannot get through to the centre," he said.

Senior officer at the Ministry of Culture's Cultural Monitoring Centre, Ladda Tangsuphachai, said yesterday the overall situation of traditional Thai cultural activities during the Songkran Festival has been satisfactory. Only three out of 76 provinces have been found in cultural violation: Chiang Mai, Prachin Buri and Angthong. All three cases related to coyote dancing with revealing and improper dress, she said. In the Chiang Mai case, the improper dancing was staged in the temple in the middle of the town, she added. "All performances were stopped after police were informed," she said."

The Nation

Some 85 per cent of accidents involved motorcycles and most took place on straight secondary roads between 4pm and 8pm.

Well, at last, I can understand the rationale behind the abandoned rules banning alchohol sales in afternoons. I'm still not sure that banning grocery store afternoon sales helped matters any, however.

It is interesting to note that these statistics posters here seem to love to post generally mask the fact that a majority of the "road accidents" reported (and by embassies) involve MOTORCYCLES and are often misrepresented as inferring police don't give car drivers much attention. Thanks for exposing the horrifying misinformation behind these statistics. Thus we can finally decide that it is not corrupt policemen "ignoring" auto-motorists continuously breaking the law that is the problem. The fact that as the majority of persons in Thailand by the millions more acquire eternal materialistic happiness among popularly elected baht billionaires by moving up to automobiles, road deaths will plummet.

Take a taxi, not a motorcycle.

Rules ignored as revellers party hard - The Nation

Chiang Mai, Khao San lead the way; Khon Kaen tops list of road fatalities

Songkran fun continued into its fourth day across the country, especially at locations where water frolics went on alongside dancing and - however unlawfully - drinking. Free concerts in Chiang Mai have been held for three consecutive days without official permission. Authorities were helpless to stop the sale of alcohol at privately owned areas where large groups of teenagers gathered. Ten of thousands crowded the Huay Kaew Road - which was closed to allow the concerts. Heavy traffic congestion resulted. Several scuffles broke out but there were no reports of serious injury. Apart from hundreds of police officers and city officials, about 1,000 soldiers from local Army units mobilised along the road to provide safety and crowd control and direct traffic.

As ever, Bangkok's Khao San Road was packed end to end with revellers armed with water guns and other implements. Police prohibited the throwing of powder and other material. That means a lighter workload for the 200 city workers who must start cleaning the road and its nearby streets today, the official end of the festival. Police reported no complaints of women being molested during the wholesale fun. They said most followed advice not to dress in revealing attire.

Many new sites for Songkran fun emerged this year with names mimicking legendary Khao San [rice seed] Road.Two are Khao Neo [sticky rice] Road in Khon Kaen and Khao Pun [round rice noodles] Road in Nakhon Phanom.

On a sadder note, Songkran has seen 238 people killed and another 3,180 injured in 2,823 road accidents between this past Wednesday and Saturday. The road toll remains slightly lower than that of 2006. Sixty-seven people died and another 886 were injured in 789 accidents yesterday alone.

A Westerner drowned in the historic Chiang Mai moat after a heavy bout of drinking. Many locals had been swimming in the moat.

Drinking drivers were the main cause of road accidents. About 43 per cent of accidents are caused by alcohol, police reported. Speeding accounted for 17.5 per cent and reckless driving 10 per cent.
Motorcycles are involved in more than eight of every 10 accidents. Pickups are involved in 10 per cent of all accidents.

Khon Kaen has recorded the most fatalities at 14 with Phitsanulok and Chiang Mai at 11 and 10 respectively, according to the Public Health Ministry.

Traffic on major Bangkok-bound routes is starting to become congested as commuters head back to the capital. The traditional festival period ended yesterday, although the extended holiday ends on Tuesday."

The Nation

[TrongpaiExpat]

From the Nation:
Authorities were helpless to stop the sale of alcohol at privately owned areas where large groups of teenagers gathered. Ten of thousands crowded the Huay Kaew Road - which was closed to allow the concerts. Heavy traffic congestion resulted. Several scuffles broke out but there were no reports of serious injury. Apart from hundreds of police officers and city officials, about 1,000 soldiers from local Army units mobilised along the road to provide safety and crowd control and direct traffic.

Bullshit. They were selling alcohol on Huay Kaew Road, that's not private property.

The road was not closed. One lane was, for cars only, on day two for a few hours in the afternoon. Motocy's were free to go anywhere they wanted and in any direction.

There were 2 police officers at each of the stages on Huay Kaew and they were staying under cover, clear of getting wet.

1,000 Soldiers? I did not see one.

[GWMinUS]

WowPow, why no pics of Songkron??
Not even Boxertravles seems to have been out...
AHHH, what whoses...
:-)

Six days: 318 dead, and 4,300 injured - The Nation

Some 318 people had been killed and 4,293 others injured in car accidents over six days of the Songkran holiday, the Road Safety Centre announced yesterday.

The number of holiday travellers killed so far this Songkran was 29 lower than the same period last year, while 57 more people had been injured.

The number of accidents (3,823) up to Monday night was 40 more than last year, the Interior Minister and the centre's deputy director Aree Wongsearaya said.

On Monday alone, there were 417 accidents. Most of them (86 per cent) involved motorcycles. Some 45 were killed and 461 others hurt.

Nakhon Phanom, Lampang, Sing Buri, Sa Kaew, and Bangkok topped the list with three deaths each, while Chiang Rai had the most injuries at 19, followed by Udon Thani (17), Kanchanaburi and Si Sa Ket, which had 14 each.

Chiang Rai also experienced the most accidents with 19, followed by Udon Thani (15) and Suphan Buri, with 14.

In the six days (April 11-16), 2.4 million vehicles were stopped at checkpoints nation-wide and 41,696 motorists found to have breached traffic laws. Most failed to present driver's licences, wear helmets or seatbelts.

With many holidaymakers returning to Bangkok from the provinces on Songkran's last day yesterday, Aree contacted public transport agencies to ensure there were sufficient seats for all.

Meanwhile, traffic on Mitraparb Highway from Nakhon Ratchasima to Sara Buri had eased and should be back to normal today. Nakhon Ratchasima bus terminals were packed with passengers but officials were confident all would be on their way to the capital by 8pm last night. In Bangkok, travellers arriving at the Mor Chit bus terminal and Hua Lampong Railway Station, caused heavy traffic around the transport hubs."

The Nation

The number of fatalities seems to be falling every year. At eh turn of the millenium I think it was over 500. It is still massive carnage.