Editor;
True enough that some traffic control lights could be
moved (re: editorial: Taxis, lights, exacerbate Pattaya growing traffic
problem, Mailbag, April 22), at little expense, to more appropriate
locations but the other suggestions would be very costly and 1 or 2 are
impossible - cannot make sois wider for example. One immediate low/no cost,
albeit possibly temporary solution, is to use as in San Francisco, New York,
Paris, Chicago, traffic police, in the street, relieving, when properly
trained, the congestion. Pattaya has many, many policemen with “traffic” on
their vests but one very rarely sees one actually out where the vehicular
movement is. School them and put them in the street.
Don Aleman
Phasakorn Channgam
Thailand’s death toll from accidents during this year’s
Songkran holidays fell nearly 25 percent from a year ago, but rose slightly
in Chonburi.
Eight of the 271 people reported killed in the April
11-17 period died in Chonburi Province, up two from last year. Half of those
deaths occurred in the Pattaya area.
In all, Thailand saw 3,215 accidents with 3,476 injuries.
Both were decreases of around 9 percent. Chonburi saw 87 accidents with 84
injures with Banglamung alone accounting for 33 accidents. Those statistics,
however, do not include April 18-19, the official “wan lai” water festival
days for Naklua and Pattaya and traditionally the busiest and
most-celebrated of the holidays here.
Government officials were quick to congratulate
themselves for the large reduction in fatalities, citing stricter penalties
for drunk driving and a stepped-up public awareness campaign in lessening
the annual road carnage.
Others, however, questioned the figures, noting that the
government had claimed 299 people had died after just six days, then revised
the final number down to 271. A newspaper in Phuket noted that at least one
road fatality there was not included in the island’s total of eight deaths
because the victim was not Thai and was unidentified when she was killed.
Despite government efforts, drunk driving remained the
lead cause of accidents during the Thai New Year with the Department of
Disaster Prevention and Mitigation estimating that 38.8 percent were caused
by drivers under the influence. Speeding came in second at nearly 21
percent.
More than 80 percent of all accidents involved motorbikes
with nearly 33 percent of those killed or injured not wearing helmets.
The Thai government this year ratcheted up penalties for
drunk driving, threatening fines up of to 20,000 baht and jail terms up to a
year or both for those found driving drunk. Road signs were also installed
along routes linking urban and rural areas, hoping to remind drivers headed
home for the holidays to drive slowly and soberly. Checkpoints also checked
drivers for booze and fatigue.
Still, Interior Ministry officials said more needs to be
done before next year, urging local administrators to increase efforts to
curtail alcohol use and better educate people.
